You might be saying Rule 5 Draft? What does that even mean? It’s called the Rule 5 Draft supposedly because of where it is in the rulebook. The simplest way to explain it, though, is it’s a draft to allow other teams to select players they believe are ready for a shot to play in the Majors if their current team either doesn’t believe they are ready and/or doesn’t have a spot for him on their 40-man roster or at that position (commonly known as a player who’s blocked.)
The 40-Man Roster is used for that reason, also. Teams add the players/pitchers who have shown they could make the majors in the next 1-3 years so they can keep them under team control for the next 3-6 seasons. Some players are added because they’ve quickly risen to that point in their careers where they are close to taking that Major step while others are added to protect them and keep them in the organization.
As soon as a player is added to the 40-Man Roster, their options begin. Options, each player has 3 option years, gives the team the ability to call up a player to the major league roster and then send him back down to the minors without having to worry about losing that player to another team. Once the option years are used up, a player has to clear waivers when being sent down to the minors. Options last until they are all used or until the player becomes a free agent. For example, players like Eddie Rosario (1), Jose Berrios (1) and Taylor Rogers (2) still have options available because they weren’t sent down to the minors after coming up in one or two of their seasons with the Twins.
There are other rules that come with a Rule 5 Draft pick. It costs a team $100,000 to pick a player. They have to have a spot available on their 40-Man Roster and they have to stay on that team’s 25-man roster for the entire next season. They can’t be optioned to the minors. They can try to send the pick through waivers but any team that claims him assumes the same Rule 5 Draft roster responsibilities. If they clear waivers, the player has to be offered back to their original team for $50,000. If they chose to take him back, they can send him to the minors or they can let the player go to the minors for the other team if they don’t want the player back.
Kind of crazy, huh? There are also some situations where an injured player can stay with the club who picked them. They have to be on the Major League team’s Injured List for a certain amount of days, though.
DECISIONS
The Minnesota Twins currently have 32 players on their 40-Man Roster but they have 25 prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Those 25 players consist of 6 infielders (including 1 catcher), 3 outfielders and 16 pitchers, 7 of whom are listed as starting pitchers and 9 listed as relievers according to Fangraphs RosterResource Depth Chart.
You might be thinking it’s crazy they can only select 7-8 players from a list of 25 prospects but there are a lot of players who are still in the low minors that are easy decisions to not add to the 40-Man Roster. If a prospect has yet to reach AA, it’s hard to believe a team will take a risk on having him on their Major League roster for an entire season.
Today, we’re going to look at the players, the hitters/fielders which consists of 6 infielders & 3 outfielders, to see if any of them are worth adding to the 40-Man Roster in order to guarantee they stay in the organization and do not get selected in the Rule 5 Draft on December 12th
First let’s look at what the Minnesota Twins already have on their roster for infielders, outfielders and designated hitters.
INFIELDERS (INCLUDING CATCHERS & DESIGNATED HITTERS)
# Pos Name B/T Ht Wt DOB
18 C Mitch Garver R/R 6’1” 220 1/15/91
64 C Willians Astudillo R/R 5’9” 225 10/14/91
24 1B C.J. Cron R/R 6’4” 235 1/5/90
2 2B Luis Arraez L/R 5’10”177 4/9/97
11 SS Jorge Polanco S/R 5’11” 200 7/5/93
22 3B Miguel Sano R/R 6’4” 272 5/11/93
23 DH Nelson Cruz R/R 6’2” 230 7/1/80
13 Util Ehire Adrianza S/R 6’1” 195 8/21/89
9 Util Marwin Gonzalez S/R 6’1” 205 3/14/89
1 2B/SS Nick Gordon L/R 6’0” 160 10/24/95
OUTFIELDERS
# Pos Name B/T Ht Wt DOB
20 LF Eddie Rosario L/R 6’1” 180 9/28/91
25 CF Byron Buxton R/R 6’2” 190 12/18/93
26 RF Max Kepler L/L 6’4” 220 2/10/93
60 OF Jake Cave L/L 6’0” 220 12/4/92
30 OF LaMonte Wade Jr. L/L 6’1” 205 1/1/94
As you can see, they’re pretty much set at every position so there isn’t a need at any position. Even if you aren’t in favor of tendering 1B C.J. Cron (and his $7.7M predicted arbitration salary), they can fill 1st base with Ehire Adrianza, Marwin Gonzalez or by moving Miguel Sano from 3rd base. The Twins have said they aren’t planning to move Miguel from 3rd base so that’s not happening, yet.
DECISIONS, DECISIONS
Let’s see what non-pitchers the Twins have to make decisions on in the next 2+ days.
Pos Name B/T Ht Wt DOB LEVEL
C/3B Caleb Hamilton R/R 6’0” 185 2/5/95 AAA (11 gms)
1B/LF Zander Wiel R/R 6’3” 220 1/11/93 AAA (126 gms)
2B/LF/3B Travis Blankenhorn L/R 6’2” 228 8/31/96 AA (93 gms)
3B Brian Schales R/R 6’1’ 170 2/13/96 AAA (17 gms*)
2B/SS Yeltsin Encarnacion S/R 5’11” 170 6/28/98 AAA (3 gms**)
SS Wander Javier R/R 6’1” 165 12/29/98 Low-A
LF/RF/1B Luke Raley L/R 6’4” 235 9/19/94 AAA (33 gms*)
OF Gilberto Celestino R/L 6’0” 170 2/13/99 A+ (8 gms)
OF Trey Cabbage L/R 6’3” 204 5/3/97 A+ (81 gms)
*Injury-Shortened Season? **Encarnacion played most of ‘19 in single-A
C/1B/3B Caleb Hamilton – In his 4 seasons since being drafted in 2016, he’s yet to hit for an average higher than .226. He looks alright defensively but is a team going to have him as their backup catcher all season? Doubtful. Unprotected
1B/OF Zander Wiel – He is intriguing because he had a really good season in Rochester this season. He only hit .254 for an average but he had an on-base percentage of .320 and, this is what we like about him, he slugged .514! He was 119-for-469 and 69 of those 119 hits (58%) were extra-base hits (XBH). He hit 40 doubles, 5 triples and 24 home runs in 126 games, 108 of them at 1B. He also walked 40 times but struck out 158 times but he was hitting the ball hard while playing very good at 1B most of the time. A lot of people will say the ball made a big difference in his power production but he still had to hit the ball and he was obviously hitting it hard. Protect Him
Here’s what Fangraphs said about him in their 2018 Top 30 Twins Prospects post as an honorable mention
There’s also a great article from MiLB.com where they go position by position across each team’s system honoring the players who had the best seasons. Here’s what they said about him and “they” is Twins Director of Player Development, Alex Hassan:
“Zander has had to fight and earn everything that’s come his way,” Hassan said. “He wasn’t a high-round pick, but he’s scrapped. He’s done it through his hard work and his production on the field. He came into the year looking to do more damage at the plate, being a corner guy, playing first base and some left field. He was trying to add some power to his game and worked hard on that in the offseason. He was a force in our lineup at Triple-A and [manager] Joel Skinner relied on him and felt comfortable when he would come up to the plate. He took a step forward this year, and he’s going to continue to have to earn those opportunities, carve out his path.”
2B/OF/3B Travis Blankenhorn – Travis played all of 2018 at the High-A level with the Fort Myers Miracle. He had a pretty good season but only hit .231 with an OBP (On-Base %) of .299 so the Twins had him begin 2019 back in Fort Myers but he only needed 15 games to get promoted to AA and he kept going. From the Twins Director of Player Development:
“I think if you ask Travis, he didn’t have his best year in 2018,” Hassan said. “This year, he took a step forward. First of all, he cut down his strikeouts, put the ball in play more often. He attributed that to some of his lower-half mechanics, like the way he loads onto his back leg. He felt like he got a more stable base underneath him and that helped him see the ball more consistently. In turn, it helped him make more frequent, solid contact. He took a step forward with the bat and played some third base, some games in the outfield. The defensive pieces continue to be an area of focus. Travis has put in the work, continues to grind to get better.”
That’s developing players by the Twins. The player definitely deserves a lot of credit also and he’s not done. Protect Him
3B Brian Schales – He only played in 52 games over 3 levels. We assume he had some injuries. His MiLB Player Page shows him being put on the 7-day injured list by the Twins AA-Affiliate, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on April 25th. It doesn’t say what the injury is. He was also placed on the temporary inactive list by the AAA Rochester Red Wings on July 23rd. Basically, a terrible year so he needs more time and it’s hard to believe he won’t get it. Unprotected
2B/SS Yeltsin Encarnacion – Encarnacion, huh? Not that Encarnacion and at 5’11”, probably never going to be like Edwin. He still has some talent but there’s really no reason to protect him because he hasn’t shown enough of it yet. He was at single-A all season, played 3 games at Rochester ???
SS Wander Javier – International signing who got a club-record $4M has yet to show why mostly because of health so would the protect him even though he’s 20-years-old and still in Low-A Ball? It seems unlikely because it’s hard to believe a team would pick him and try to stash him on their 26-man roster for a full season but…he’s a shortstop that is supposed to have a good bat so…we could see this going either way. Bubble
LF/RF/1B Luke Raley – Obtained in the Brian Dozier trade (along with LHP Devin Smeltzer), Luke had a rough year due to injury but it started out well and, eventually ended well as he was invited to the Arizona Fall League and, even though it took some time, he started to hit. He’s a big kid with a big bat but is there a spot for him as an outfielder. Doesn’t matter. Protect Him
OF Gilberto Celestino – He was an honorable mention in MiLB.com’s Twins Prospects of the Year for Outfielders: Twins No. 20 prospect Gilberto Celestino totaled 10 homers, 54 RBIs and 58 runs scored in 125 games, mostly with Cedar Rapids. He batted .277/.349/.410 and swiped 14 bases. He’s great defensively & has speed. He only played 8 games at High-A Fort Myers but he started to show some comfort with the bat. Would a team be willing to take a single-A player for their 26-Man Roster? Are the Twins willing to expose him to give them that chance? Protect Him
OF Trey Cabbage – Also an Honorable Mention from MiLB.com:Trey Cabbage began the season with Cedar Rapids (18 games), his third straight year with the Kernels. He was promoted to Fort Myers (81 games) and finished with 15 homers, a .447 slugging percentage, 53 RBIs and 57 runs scored — all career highs. There just isn’t enough room for him, unfortunately, but he should get through without being taken. Unprotected
So, with the 40-Man Roster at 32 and the Twins needing to add at least 2 pitchers & 1 catcher, that leaves 5 spots available but there are players the Twins could drop off the 40-Man like RHPs Ryne Harper & Trevor Hildenberger and they could go with Willians Astudillo as their backup catcher (but they probably won’t.) That would open up 3 more spots taking it from 5 to 8.
We said we’d protect Zander Wiel, Travis Blankenhorn, Luke Raley & Gilberto Celestino and Wander Javier is on the bubble. That’s 4 spots which would leave 4 spots for the pitchers.
We’ll cover the pitchers next!
