While this does a good job of trying to balance out the prospect talent throughout the league, the one stipulation the selection comes with is that the player selected needs to stay on his new team’s 26-man active roster throughout the subsequent season. If the new team chooses to move him off the roster, that team must offer him back to his original team.
The draft order is established by reverse order of the previous season’s standings.
While this may not seem like a significant event, we have seen players like Anthony Santander, Garrett Whitlock, and Brad Keller taken in recent Rule 5 drafts. Those names stick out a bit, but how about names like Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, and Shane Victorino? I would say they had pretty good careers.
There were a slew of obvious prospects that teams would be quick to protect from this year’s draft, but there were plenty more that left us thinking, “Are we missing something?”
These are the most surprising prospects who weren’t protected from the Rule 5 draft.
Most Surprising Omissions
Blaze Jordan (1B/3B) – St. Louis Cardinals
2025 Stats: .29 G, 270/.331/.450, 19 HR, 99 RBI, 110 wRC+