Pittsburgh Pirates Land Former A's Prospect

Jason Burke | Dec 13, 2024

Sep 8, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Pittsburgh Pirates hat and glove before a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the most active clubs in the Rule 5 Draft, ultimately selecting five players from various teams, though all five came in the minor-league portion of the draft. Their first pick ended up coming from the Athletics, when they took right-hander Franck De La Rosa.

De La Rosa, 24, originally signed with the A's out of the Dominican Republic back in September of 2019, and made his pro debut in 2021 due to the global pandemic. He spent that year in the Dominican Summer League, then missed the 2022 season before making his stateside debut in 2023 with the A Ball Stockton Ports.

In that first year with Stockton, he went 2-0 in 15 appearances, holding a 6.10 ERA across 20 2/3 innings while holding a 1.35 WHIP. In 2024 he returned to Stockton for another year, posting a 5.88 ERA (4.61 FIP) while striking out 31.5% of hitters he faced and walking 15.3%.

Standing 6-foot-8, De La Rosa sat 95-97 with his fastball this past season and was able to limit the walks a bit better earlier in the campaign before regression hit in mid-May. His season was done by the end of the month with the righty tossing just 26 innings, which is a new career high. He also held a .253 batting average against this past season, along with a 1.73 WHIP.

He definitely seems like a guy that has some tools, but health has been a bit of an issue for him, which has slowed his development in the minor leagues. The Pirates are taking a shot at him being a bit healthier moving forward, and potentially also giving him some extra tools to work with in their own development plan.

If De La Rosa is to make it to the big leagues, it would appear that there is still a decent amount of work that will need to be done in the coming years to get there.

The Pirates also took catcher Aaron McKeithan from the St. Louis Cardinals, southpaws Randy Labaut and Steve Hajjar from the Cleveland Guardians, and outfielder Joel Mendez from the New York Yankees Complex League. Only the Philadelphia Phillies made more Rule 5 selections in the minor league phase, selecting one player in all six rounds.

Franck De La Rosa was one of two A's farmhands that was selected in the first eight picks in the first round, with the Los Angeles Angels selecting Gustavo Rodriguez with the No. 4 overall pick.