Cleveland Baseball Insider

Guardians Add Two Arms in Minor League Rule 5 Draft

Cleveland Guardians select two pitchers in Minor League Rule 5 Draft

Todd Paquette

MLB.com

Yes, baseball transactions are still happening despite the currently MLB lockout. 

All Major League transactions are frozen until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place. But minor league offseason protocols move on unaffected. This year only the Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft took place while, the Major League phase may be rescheduled once a new CBA is in place.

For the Minor League phase, any player not protected on a 38-man Triple-A roster from that same group can be selected. Any team with a full 38-man Triple-A roster is not allowed to make a selection, but teams can make as many picks as they want until they get to 38 players.

Unlike the MLB phase, a player selected does not have to stick at that level. A player taken in the Minor League phase, costs $24,500, paid to the player’s original team. The team can then send the selected player to any level in its system it chooses.

In the first round the Guardians used the 15th overall pick and selected 24-year-old left-hander Erik Sabrowski of the San Diego Padres. 

Sabrowski was a 2018 14th round pick by San Diego out of Cloud County Junior College in Kansas. He missed both the 2018 and 2019 seasons because he needed Tommy John surgery right after being drafted by the Padres. 

Sabrowski finally made his pro-debut in 2021 after the 2020 minor league season was cancelled due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. He was assigned to the High-A affiliate of the Padres, the Fort Wayne TinCaps. With the TinCaps, Sabrowski went 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA and struck out 41, while walking 12 over 29.0 innings.

His season was cut short however and on August 20th he was placed on the 7-day injured list. Unfortunately for him it was another injury to his elbow, and he underwent a second Tommy John surgery on October 16th.

Sabrowski will in all likelihood miss the entire 2022 minor league season. The Guardians thought enough of him to select him despite the surgery. Sabrowski possesses two above average pitches in a high-spin low 90's fastball with carry, as well as a hard-to-square-up curveball. Look for him to make his organizational debut at some point during the 2023 season.

In the second round the Guardians selected 25-year-old RHP Brett Daniels out of the Houston Astros organization. 

Daniels was Houston’s 17th-round pick in 2018 MLB draft out of the University of North Carolina. During the 2021 season while with Double-A Corpus Christi he went 5-8 with a 6.48 ERA over 22 games. Daniels struck out 122 while walking 48 batters in 90.1 innings pitched. 

Daniels had much more success however over first two seasons as a professional prior to 2021. In those two years he had a 2.25 ERA over 144.0 innings, striking out 151 batters while walking 58. 

The organization will likely transition Daniels to a bullpen role for the upcoming 2022 minor league season. He should start out the year either with Double-A Akron or Triple-A Columbus.

The Guardians did lose one player in the draft when RHP Dakody Clemmer was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 4th Round. 

The 25-year-old Clemmer was a 2016 19th Round pick by Cleveland out of Central Arizona College. He spent the entire 2021 season with Double-A Akron where out of the bullpen where he appeared in 30 games. Over those 30 games he had a 3.40 ERA covering 50.1 innings pitched, striking out 62 batters while walking 33.

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Todd Paquette
TODD PAQUETTE

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