There’s no such thing as a certainty in Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 Draft, but the Philadelphia Phillies losing right-handed pitcher Griff McGarry was pretty close.
McGarry, a 26-year-old San Francisco native who the Phillies chose with their fifth-round selection in the 2021 draft out of Virginia, made 21 starts in the Phillies organization this season, and while his overall numbers weren’t excellent, his strikeouts jumped off the page. In just 83 2/3 innings, he punched out an impressive 124 batters.
When the Phillies didn’t add McGarry to their 40-man roster by the Nov. 18 deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft, the 6-foot-2 righty was widely identified as a top candidate to be selected by a rival team. On Wednesday, it turned out that the rival team that ended up with him was quite close to home.
McGarry was selected by the Washington Nationals with the third-overall pick in the major league phase of Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft. The official MLB.com Rule 5 results page confirmed McGarry’s selection.
Per the structure of the Rule 5 proceedings, the Nationals must carry McGarry on their active major league roster for the entire season, or place him on the injured list (for valid causes, of course). Otherwise, he’ll be returned to the Phillies organization.
Seeing as the Nationals were desperate for pitching and are likely staring at another rebuild under new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, it came as no surprise that they were willing to take a shot on someone with as much arm talent as McGarry.
The only question now is whether McGarry will serve as a starter in Washington, which he was in the minors this year, or be converted to a high-leverage reliever, which is a more typical path for Rule 5 selections to take.
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