Rule 5 Draft Could Be Painful for D-backs This Year

The Diamondbacks express concern about potentially losing multiple players in today's Rule 5 Draft.

The Rule 5 Draft is typically the final event in the yearly Winter Meetings. This draft takes place later today, with both a major league and minor league phase. The major league phase, the more commonly known one, involves teams having an opportunity to select eligible minor league players who are not currently on a team's 40-man roster for $100K. The order of the Rule 5 Draft are based on Reverse Order Standings, meaning the Diamondbacks pick 19th in the order instead of 29th in next year's amateur draft.

The eligibility requirements are the following, based on the age the player signed his first professional contract:

• 18 or younger: Five seasons
• 19 or older: Four seasons

Teams had until November 14th to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft. The only player added to the roster that day was 22-year-old left-hander Blake Walston. 

The D-backs have three minor leaguers who could be selected in the Rule 5 Draft: right-handed reliever Austin Pope, first baseman Tristin English, and corner infielder Deyvison De Los Santos. General manager Mike Hazen told Jack Sommers his concern for losing a player is "higher than normal", leaving quite a few players available. Of the three Pope seems like the safest bet to stick on a team's 40-man roster as a major league ready arm, followed by English who has 371 plate appearances in Triple-A. De Los Santos may be selected due to his home run ceiling, but has a much lower chance of sticking on a roster than the other two players.

A player selected in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft must spend the entire season on the active roster for the claiming team, and a minimum of 90 days to avoid the same restrictions the following season if needed to be placed on the injured list. Should a team need to remove a Rule 5 player from their roster, they must be passed through outright waivers then be offered back to the original team for $50K. If the original team elects to not take back the player, then he could stay with his new organization and outrighted to the minors. The last player Arizona selected in the MLB portion and lasted the whole season was catcher Óscar Hernández, who hit .196 in two years with the D-backs after getting selected with the first pick of the 2014 Rule 5 Draft.

Asked if the D-backs may participate in the Rule 5 Draft, Hazen said they probably will not make a selection but will still consider their options.

"We may go through the process and evaluate the class, but if there is a reliever we may talk through it. I look at that as not as much a tryout, but if we see a path to making the team."

After the major league phase, there is a minor league phase. This phase is a four-round process The eligibility requirements are the same as the MLB phase, but instead applies to a 38-man Triple-A roster. The three players listed above would not be eligible for the MiLB phase, which Pope and English already on Reno's roster to close out the season and De Los Santos potentially starting 2024 there. Notable players the D-backs have taken in this phase that went on to appear for them in recent seasons are left-hander Tyler Gilbert and right-hander Peter Solomon.