What to know about the A's and the Rule 5 Draft

Jason Burke | Nov 20, 2024

Sep 29, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Mitch Spence (40) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

With the Rule 5 deadline having passed yesterday and the Athletics protecting three players--outfielder Denzel Clarke and righties Ryan Cusick and Gunnar Hoglund--we can now shift our focus to what happens next with the A's and the Rule 5 Draft next month.

The A's have been busy in this particular draft of late, selecting Mitch Spence with the top pick last year, while also seeing good results from guys like Mark Canha and Ryan Noda. The tricky part of the draft is that any player selected in the Major League portion needs to remain on the selecting club's 26-man roster for the full season, or be placed on waivers, then offered back to the team they were taken from.

This is why fewer position players are generally taken, because a team can take a hard-throwing pitcher and stash them in the bullpen for an inning or two a week and make it work.

The way that the draft order is determined is by just flipping the standings, with the clubs choosing in reverse order of their records from the regular season. So this year's top five teams will be the Chicago White Sox with the No. 1 pick, followed by the Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Angels, and then the Athletics at No. 5.

The other wrinkle to this draft is that in order to make a selection, a team must have an available 40-man roster spot to put that player. Right now the A's are at 37 on their 40-man, leaving room for three potential selections, though having too many Rule 5 guys is typically pretty hard to pull off since they all need roster spots on the big league club and they have generally never played in the majors. That, plus they weren't deemed good enough by their former clubs to be added to the 40-man rosters on those teams.

The White Sox are at 39, the Rockies are at 39, the Marlins are at 40, and the Angels are at 40. So as things stand right now, only two teams would have an opportunity to select ahead of the A's. That can still change with the draft set to kick off on the final day of the Winter Meetings in the second week of December.

The A's could go in a number of directions with a potential pick, but one thing that typically happens if the team winds up with a Rule 5 guy is that they generally hold onto that player. Of course, they did take Ka'ai Tom for the 2021 season, and he ended up on waivers by April 19, so it doesn't always work out.

It will be interesting to see how the A's attack the Draft this year, with fewer needs than in recent seasons, but still looking for more talent to add to the roster.