Paul Articulates – Mets results from the Rule 5 draft

The MLB winter meetings continued yesterday in Nashville, and among the activities was the annual “Rule 5” draft, which allows MLB teams to poach an unprotected player from another organization for a fee with the qualification that the selected player remains on their roster for the full season.  There are several intricacies with the Rule 5 draft which were explained in an earlier article.

The Rule 5 draft saw quite a bit of activity today.  Unlike the convoluted MLB draft lottery that has many rules moving teams up and down based on compensation or penalty from other events (such as the competitive balance tax or the QO compensation), the Rule 5 draft is ordered in the inverse of the teams’ final finishing order in the 2023 season.  If a team has room on its 40-man roster and it is their turn, they can pick a player from any other organization that is not protected.  In the MLB phase of the R5 draft, there is one round.  In the minor league phase, there can be several rounds depending on a team’s appetite.

This year’s MLB phase saw the following ten picks:

Oakland A's chose: RHP Mitch Spence (NYY) 

Kansas City Royals chose: RHP Matt Sauer – he was the Yankees’ No. 25 prospect

Rockies chose: RHP Anthony Molina (Tampa Bay)

White Sox chose: LHP Shane Drohan – he was Boston’s No. 19 prospect

Washington Nationals chose: SS Nasim Nuñez – he was Miami’s No. 16 prospect

St. Louis Cardinals chose: RHP Ryan Fernandez (Boston)

New York Mets chose: RHP Justin Slaten (Texas), then traded to Boston for LHP Ryan Ammons

Cleveland Guardians chose: 3B Deyvison De Los Santos – he was Arizona’s No. 5 prospect

San Diego Padres chose: RHP Stephen Kolek (Seattle)

Texas Rangers chose: RHP Carson Coleman (NYY)

No other MLB picks were made, as other teams either chose not to pick or did not have room on their 40-man roster.

The Mets’ choice was made more interesting by the “pick & trade” process.  When a player who was selected in the Rule 5 draft is traded, the receiving team is subject to the same conditions – if they do not maintain the player on their MLB 40-man roster for the full season, they must offer the player back to the original team. In this case, Boston either keeps Slaten or sends him back to Texas, but the Mets keep Ammons regardless of the Red Sox decision.  

Ammons was a 10th round draft pick (#283) in the July 2023 MLB draft out of Clemson.  He was assigned to the Red Sox affiliate in the Florida Coast League, but did not play due to an injury.  He was 3-2 with a 4.35 ERA for Clemson over 47 appearances in a four year career that also saw time down due to injury.  When he was healthy, his 13 strikeouts per nine made him stand out.  Not a bad flier on a talented but oft-injured player for what was essentially a “free” pick.  Justin Slaten has spent four years in the Texas minor league organization after being drafted in 2019 with the 86th overall pick.  Slaten has accumulated a 5.31 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP over his minors career.

The Mets lost no players in the MLB Rule 5 draft, but there were several gains and losses in the MiLB Rule 5 draft.  Pitchers Brendan Hardy and Tyler Thomas, both of whom played in the Arizona Fall League this year after finishing the regular season in AA with the Rumble Ponies were chosen by other teams.  So were St. Lucie outfielder Yeral Martinez and right-handed pitchers Daison Acosta and Benito Garcia.

In the MiLB Rule 5 draft, the Mets chose catcher Donovan Antonia from Cincinnati’s A-level team and righty pitcher Alan Perdomo from Colorado’s rookie league team.

The whole exchange in the Rule 5 draft for the Mets turned out to be a very minor impact event.  They gained a few long-shot opportunities in three pitchers who have seen no action above A-ball and they lost a few players that were not rated among their top 30 prospects.  When the Mets significantly trimmed their 40-man roster at the deadline I was prepared for them to pick up some intriguing players in this draft.  It was quite to the contrary, which either implies that they have several free agency moves to come or they were unable to land the players they targeted.