Seattle Mariners Face Tough Roster Decision with Prospect as Rule-5 Deadline Nears
The deadline for Major League Baseball teams to protect minor leaguers from the Rule-5 Draft is Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. PT.
Though the Rule-5 draft is set for Dec. 11, protected players need to be on the 40-man roster by Tuesday. Every team in baseball is faced with some sort of difficult roster decision through this process and MLB Pipeline says the M's toughest decision is with pitcher Jason Ruffcorn.
Originally an eighth-round pick of the Phillies in 2021 out of Oklahoma, Ruffcorn joined the Mariners in a trade for cash considerations in March. Scott Ruffcorn’s kid reached the upper levels of the Minors for the first time this year, using his four-seam fastball, cutter and sweeper to finish the season with a 3.44 ERA, 10.0 K/9 rate and .225 BAA. The 26-year-old missed a good amount of bats (13.8 K/9) in 13 2/3 innings of Fall League work.
The Mariners have a generally well-regarded farm system and Ruffcorn is not currently in their Top 30 prospects, per MLB.com. The M's also have a full 40-man roster and would need to make room on the 40-man roster in order to keep him around.
While the Mariners could let him go, they could be intrigued to keep him around because they need more pitching depth at the upper levels of the minors. While the M's have a great cast of major league pitching, they only really have Emerson Hancock as upper-level options in case someone gets injured. Perhaps Ruffcorn - or Logan Evans - could serve as that depth option in 2025.
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