With the 2025 Rule 5 draft set to take place next week, Baseball America is gearing up for what is annually one of our favorite events of the baseball calendar. You can find our updated 2.0 preview of potential picks here.
More Rule 5 Draft Coverage
In the run-up to the big day, we’re also providing a quick primer for what is, admittedly, one of the more esoteric events of the offseason. Here’s everything to know.
What Is The Rule 5 Draft?
The simplest way to explain the Rule 5 draft is it’s a way for teams to add players who are buried on other teams’ rosters, providing them with a clearer path to the major leagues. It originated back when baseball was “organized” in 1903, though a previous version stretches back to the 1890s. At the time, every team in the majors or minors was its own entity. There was a worry that players would be limited from moving up to higher leagues because minor league teams would hoard their best players.
And so, the draft—the amateur draft as we know it today was still more than 60 years away, so it was simply known as the “draft”—was developed to give teams a way to pluck away players stuck on lower-level teams.
The rules for eligibility have been tweaked many times over the years, but at its core, the Rule 5 draft still tries to do the same thing: If one team is unwilling to put a player on its 40-man roster and another team is willing to carry that player on its active roster all season, then the player could be given the opportunity by way of a draft pick.
When Is The Rule 5 Draft?
The 2025 Rule 5 draft will be held Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. ET at the Bonnet Creek Ballroom VII-XII in Orlando. The draft is always held in a hotel ballroom on the final day of the Winter Meetings. Baseball America will be on hand to provide a special, behind-the-scenes look at all the draft happenings, so stay tuned for that next week, as well.
Digging Deeper Into How The Rule 5 Draft Works
For many baseball fans, just knowing the Rule 5 basics and start time would be enough. But if you’re here reading Baseball America, we know you want a more detailed explanation of the draft. Let’s dig in.
Firstly, it’s important to know that any player on a team’s 40-man roster is protected from the Rule 5 draft and can’t be picked. Additionally, any players who have not been professionals long enough are also ineligible for the Rule 5 draft.
For any pro who signed their initial contract as an 18-year-old or younger (age as of June 5 of their signing year), that player becomes eligible for the Rule 5 draft after their fifth professional season. Any player who initially signed at 19 or older is eligible after their fourth professional season. If a player has his contract voided and then re-signs with a club, that player is immediately Rule 5 eligible. That doesn’t happen often, but it did occur in 2018, as 18-year-old Royals pitcher Elvis Luciano was selected by the Blue Jays. He posted a 5.35 ERA in 25 games as a 19-year-old in 2019 and never returned to the majors. He’s now pitching in Japan.
If a player’s first contract is signed and they are then assigned to a team whose season has already ended, that player’s first counting season does not begin until the following season. The demise of the Venezuelan Summer League has meant there are fewer of these loophole players. One example is catcher Ronaldo Hernandez, a top Rays prospect who Ronaldo Hernandez, Little Details Matter” href=”https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/when-signing-players-like-ronaldo-hernandez-little-details-matter/”>did not have to be protected from the Rule 5 draft because he signed in early August 2014 after the Rays VSL team’s season ended.
Once a player has been drafted, the team who picked them pays a $100,000 draft fee to the player’s original team. That player is then added to the new team’s 40-man roster (the team must have an open roster spot to be eligible to pick a player).
The selected player must be kept on his new team’s major league roster for the entire upcoming season. They can be placed on the injured list if they have a legitimate injury—there have been grievances filed and won over phantom Rule 5 injuries—but they can’t be optioned to the minors. Instead, if a team decides to clear the Rule 5 pick from their active roster, they have to be placed on waivers. Any other team can then claim the player, and by doing so, that team then assumes the Rule 5 roster responsibilities. If no one claims the player, he is dropped from the 40-man roster and offered back to his original team, which can choose to take him back—and pay back $50,000 of the $100,000 selection fee—and send him to the minors or keep the money and let the player stay with his new team. In that case, the player can now be sent down to the minors by his new team. Sometimes, teams will trade another player to the Rule 5 player’s original team so they can keep the player they selected, but still send him to the minors.
Rule 5 picks can be traded and some are, almost always for cash. Those trades don’t become public until after the draft, so just because a team picks a player doesn’t mean it’ll keep the player. A prominent example of this happened when the Cubs picked Josh Hamilton in 2006, only to trade him to the Reds for cash.
Theoretically, a team could trade a Rule 5 pick during the season, but that almost never happens, as it would be difficult to properly value a player who carries such roster restrictions.
There is also a minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Any player who is on the 38-player Triple-A roster is protected from being picked in the minor league Rule 5 draft.
There are no eligibility rules that have to be maintained in the minor league phase. The player is drafted, the player’s old organization is paid $24,500 and immediately the player becomes a member of his new organization. Almost all of the players picked in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft are viewed as useful organizational players for their new team, but occasionally one of these players does find his way to the majors with his new organization. The top player picked recently in the MiLB Rule 5 draft is the Brewers’ selection of Isaac Collins from the Rockies in 2022.
NFL quarterback Russell Wilson, a former minor league second baseman for the Rockies, used to get picked often in the minor league Rule 5 draft. He’d be invited to spring training to speak to the team that selected him and wear the uniform for publicity photos. For whatever reason, Kyler Murray, an A’s draft pick who now quarterbacks for the Arizona Cardinals, has not proven as popular as a minor league pick.
What Kind Of Players Get Picked?
Pitchers. Lots and lots of pitchers. Last year, there were 15 players picked, and 11 of them were pitchers. Of the players who “stuck” by fulfilling their Rule 5 roster obligations, five of the seven were pitchers. Shane Smith and Mike Vasil were both excellent Rule 5 picks for the White Sox last season. Mitch Spence gave the A’s quality innings from the 2023 Rule 5 draft. Garrett Whitlock (Red Sox) and Tyler Wells (Orioles) are the most productive Rule 5 picks of the 2020s so far.
You can read a deeper analysis of Rule 5 draft pick trends here.
Does Every MLB Team Participate?
Not in the same way. The Dodgers last selected a player to keep in the major league phase back in 2013 and have picked only three players in the 2020s. The Yankees last MLB Rule 5 pick was in 2011. The Yankees have only picked six players in the MLB phase in the 21st century, and three of the six were in 2011. The Padres lead the way with 23 players picked in the MLB phase in the 21st century, just ahead of the Orioles at 22.
While the Yankees don’t pick often, their players do get picked. New York has had 32 players selected in the MLB phase of the Rule 5 draft in the 21st century. The Guardians (27), Red Sox (21), Cubs (20) and Rays (20) also get raided regularly. San Diego has only had three players picked in the 21st century.
What Is The 2025 Rule 5 Draft Order?
Teams must have an open roster spot on the 40-man MLB roster to select a player in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft or the 38-player Triple-A roster for the minor league phase.
The draft order is what the MLB July draft order would be if there wasn’t a lottery. Here’s what it looks like for 2025:
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Chicago White Sox
3. Washington Nationals
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Los Angeles Angels
7. Baltimore Orioles
8. Athletics
9. Atlanta Braves
10. Tampa Bay Rays
11. St. Louis Cardinals
12. Miami Marlins
13. Arizona Diamondbacks
14. Texas Rangers
15. San Francisco Giants
16. Kansas City Royals
17. Cincinnati Reds
18. New York Mets
19. Detroit Tigers
20. Houston Astros
21. Cleveland Guardians
22. Boston Red Sox
23. Seattle Mariners
24. San Diego Padres
25. Chicago Cubs
26. Los Angeles Dodgers
27. Toronto Blue Jays
28. New York Yankees
29. Philadelphia Phillies
30. Milwaukee Brewers