MLB Rule 5 Draft Day Is Today! What Guardians Prospects Could Be Selected?

What Guardians Players Could Be Selected In The MLB Rule 5 Draft Wednesday

Todd Paquette | Dec 7, 2022

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Cleveland Guardians

Held each December annually on the last day of the Winter Meetings, the MLB Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs.

Below is my list of 13 of the Guardians top players that are eligible to be selected in this year's draft by other teams tonight at 5:00pm eastern time when the draft begins.

Pitchers

The Guardians have a couple former first round picks both coming off Tommy John surgeries that will be available to be selected in Ethan Hankins and Lenny Torres. Hankins has only pitched one inning since the end of the 2019 season while Torres returned to action in 2021 but missed a significant amount of time due to the tragic death of his father last year.

The organization also has a handful of solid relief prospects in Nic Enright, Kevin Kelly, Nick Mikolajchak, Andrew Misiaszek who all spent time at Triple-A Columbus in 2022 as well as hard throwing reliever Trey Benton who finished the season at High-A Lake County.

One of the most intriguing pitchers that is available might be starter Peyton Battenfield who could be a useful potential 5th starter for a non-contending team in 2023.

RHP - Peyton Battenfield

25-year-old starting pitcher

(Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 153.0(IP) 138(H) 67(R) 62(ER) 57(BB) 109(SO) 3.63(ERA) 4.68(FIP)

#Guardians 24yr old RHP prospect Peyton Battenfield was outstanding today for Columbus! Battenfield threw 8.0 scoreless innings allowing just three hits striking out six in the game. He lowers ERA to 2.91 on the year.

Line - 8.0(IP) 3H 0R 0ER 0BB 6SO@PBattenfield #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/yZwnFT20aq
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 14, 2022

RHP - Trey Benton

24-year-old relief pitcher

(Low-A) Lynchburg and (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 12(SV) 43.1(IP) 29(H) 18(R) 10(ER) 26(BB) 52(SO) 2.08(ERA) 4.52(FIP)

#Guardians 24yr old RHP relief prospect Trey Benton came up big tonight with 2.1 scoreless innings out of the pen earning the win as Lake County advances to the Midwest League Championship Series!

Line - 2.1(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO@TreyBenton12 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/CXVq7TGmeH
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) September 17, 2022

RHP - Nic Enright

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Double-A) Akron and (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 11(SV) 65.2(IP) 49(H) 24(R) 21(ER) 14(BB) 87(SO) 2.88(ERA) 2.89(FIP)

#Guardians 25yr old RHP relief prospect Nic Enright w/ two scoreless innings tonight striking out two for Columbus. Enright has pitched well over his last 22 appearances.

Line - 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Last 22 - 26.2(IP) 21H 7R 6ER 3BB 36SO 2.03 ERA@Enright_15 #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/B3EcY7LZGt
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) September 28, 2022

RHP - Ethan Hankins

22-year-old starting pitcher

Arizona Complex League

2022 - 1.0(IP) 0(H) 0(R) 0(ER) 0(BB) 1(SO) 0.00(ERA) 2.26(FIP)

#Guardians 25yr old RHP relief prospect Nic Enright w/ two scoreless innings tonight striking out two for Columbus. Enright has pitched well over his last 22 appearances.

Line - 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Last 22 - 26.2(IP) 21H 7R 6ER 3BB 36SO 2.03 ERA@Enright_15 #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/B3EcY7LZGt
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) September 28, 2022

RHP - Kevin Kelly

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Double-A) Akron and (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 4(SV) 57.1(IP) 42(H) 17(R) 13(ER) 22(BB) 75(SO) 2.04(ERA) 2.86(FIP)

#Guardians 24yr old RHP relief prospect Kevin Kelly struckout 4 over 3.0 scoreless innings for Columbus Tuesday. Kelly has not allowed an ER over his last 16 appearances.

Line - 3.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 4SO

Last 16 - 19.2(IP) 5H 1R 0ER 4BB 29SO 0.00 ERA@KevinKelly252 #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/BSn2iBaXbN
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) September 14, 2022

RHP - Nick Mikolajchak

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 6(SV) 50.1(IP) 38(H) 20(R) 17(ER) 29(BB) 50(SO) 3.04(ERA) 4.02(FIP)

#Indians 23yr old RHP relief prospect Nick Mikolajchak earned his 6th save tonight for (AA) Akron striking out 4 over 2.0 scoreless innings vs Erie.

Line - 2.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 0BB 4SO

Season - 23.0(IP) 19H 7R 5ER 3BB 34SO 1.96 ERA@Nick_M_3 @AkronRubberDuck #OurCLE pic.twitter.com/X55RXR9V7y
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 1, 2021

LHP - Andrew Misiaszek

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Double-A) Akron and (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 61.2(IP) 49(H) 16(R) 14(ER) 25(BB) 90(SO) 2.04(ERA) 2.75(FIP)

#Guardians 24yr old LHP relief prospect Andrew Misiaszek struckout 4 over 2.0 scoreless innings tonight for Akron. Misiaszek has yet to allow a run on the season in 6 games.

Line - 2.0(IP) 3H 0R 0ER 2BB 4SO

Season - 11.2(IP) 6H 0R 0ER 3BB 20SO 0.00 ERA@andrewmiz24 #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/ka35dYUa8G
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) April 29, 2022

RHP - Lenny Torres

22-year-old starting pitcher

Arizona Complex League and (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 33.1(IP) 35(H) 37(R) 24(ER) 29(BB) 37(SO) 6.48(ERA) 6.79(FIP)

#Guardians 21yr old RHP prospect Lenny Torres Jr. made his second appearance out of the bullpen tonight for Lake County since rejoining the club striking out 3 over 2.0 scoreless innings.

Line - 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO@LennyTorresJr02 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/CrLPc7x94u
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) August 20, 2022

Position Players

In the position players group, there is some power to be had in catcher / infielder David Fry (17 HR's), first baseman Micah Pries (18 HR's), outfielder Alexfri Planez (19 HR's) and outfielder Jonathan Rodriguez (26 HR's).

Also available is a young 20-year-old third base prospect Gabriel Rodriguez who spent the 2022 season at High-A Lake County but had his season cut short having to undergo surgery for a torn right labrum in his shoulder. Rodriguez signed for a Guardians International free agent record $2.1 million dollars back in 2018 out of Venezuela.

1B/3B/C - David Fry

27-years-old spent 2022 at (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 27(2B) 2(3B) 17(HR) 74(RBI) 39(BB) .256(AVG) .329(OBP) 105(wRC+)

#Guardians 26yr old (1B/3B) prospect David Fry with a Grand Slam in the 10th inning tonight for Columbus gives them a 10-5 lead over Iowa! Third straight game the Clippers have hit a Grand Slam. For Fry it was HR number 12 on the year.@CLBClippers #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/AwoDGOsG49
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 3, 2022

1B/OF - Micah Pries

24-years-old spent 2022 at (Double-A) Akron

2022 - 29(2B) 5(3B) 18(HR) 73(RBI) 42(BB) .266(AVG) .341(OBP) 119(wRC+)

#Guardians 24yr old (1B) prospect Micah Pries absolutely obliterated his 17th HR of the season a 3-run shot in part of a 5-run 7th inning for Akron cuts the lead to 8-to-7 against Erie!@micahpries @AkronRubberDuck #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/OHJoA25DMQ
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) August 21, 2022

3B/SS/2B - Gabriel Rodriguez

20-years-old spent 2022 at (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 15(2B) 2(3B) 9(HR) 38(RBI) 34(BB) .272(AVG) .343(OBP) 112(wRC+)

#Guardians 20yr old INF prospect Gabriel Rodriguez showing some impressive pop with a 2-run opposite field HR for Lake County! For Rodriguez it was his 7th HR of the season.@Eldetejero @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/cdbEb9OySe
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 4, 2022

OF - Alexfri Planez

21-years-old spent 2022 at (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 21(2B) 19(HR) 63(RBI) 16(BB) .251(AVG) .289(OBP) 106(wRC+)

Unreal! #Guardians 20yr old OF prospect Alexfri Planez extends his hitting streak to 21 straight games with a 3-run HR in the 8th inning to give Lake County a 5-2 lead. For Planez he now has 11 HR's & 25 XBH on the season in just 45 games!@ajplanez33 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/J5MgaJvbJr
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 10, 2022

OF - Johnathan Rodriguez

23-years-old spent 2022 between (High-A) Lake County & (Double-A) Akron

2022 - 23(2B) 4(3B) 26(HR) 74(RBI) 27(BB) .269(AVG) .318(OBP) 130(wRC+)

Unreal! #Guardians 22yr old OF prospect Johnathan Rodriguez with a 2-run HR in the 5th inning for Lake County gives them a 5-to-3 lead. That's now 13 HR's for Rodriguez over his last 28 games played!!!@jjrodz55 @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/F2AzjO3y6g
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 31, 2022

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Published Dec 7, 2022