The MLB Rule 5 Draft explained

 

It is being reported that Major League Baseball plans to still have a Rule 5 Draft this Winter regardless of the labor situation.

While this may change, I always find myself having to explain what the Rule 5 draft is all about.  

Other sites have explained this very well in the past and have included links to those sites below.

Basically, teams have until the middle of November or so to add any Rule 5 eligible player to their MLB Roster to keep them getting selected in the Rule 5 Draft.  

In addition, players not added to the 38-Man AAA Roster will be eligible for the minor league portion of the draft.  

The Rule 5 Draft typically occurs the last day of the Winter meetings in December.  

Rule 5 Draft details:

Per MLB.com: "Players first signed at age 18 must be added to 40-man rosters within five seasons or they become eligible to be drafted by other organizations through the Rule 5 process. Players signed at 19 years or older have to be protected within four seasons. Clubs pay $100,000 to select a player in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft. If that player doesn't stay on the 25-man roster for the full season, he must be offered back to his former team for $50,000."

There are two portions, the Major League portion and the Minor League portion.  In the Major League portion, each Major League team gets one pick from the pool of unprotected players.  Teams can place players on their AAA Roster to exempt them from the Minor League portion.  Once selected, those players do not need to be retained on a team's MLB roster. 

Dodger Blue: "Teams with a full 38-man Triple-A roster are not permitted to make any picks. Each player taken in the Minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft requires a $24,500 payment to be made to the original team."

Players taken in the minor league portion stay with the new team and don't have to be given back.  

In the past the Mets have used the minor league portion to select players in areas of needs.  For example, in 2023 the Mets also selected RHP Alan Perdomo from the Rockies and C/OF Donovan Antonia from the Reds. Though both players had flashes of the success with the Mets in 2024, neither advanced past Brooklyn and were eventually released.  

Still have questions? Leave a comment below.