2023 MLB Rule 5 Draft Wrap-Up
Benjamin Chase takes a look at this year's Rule 5 crop
IBWAA members love to write about baseball. So much so, we've decided to create our own newsletter about it! Subscribe to Here's the Pitch to expand your love of baseball, discover new voices, and support independent writing. Original content six days a week, straight to your inbox and straight from the hearts of baseball fans.
Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . The Rule 5 draft has been altered over the years, so some of the early historically good selections like Roberto Clemente and Hack Wilson would not even be eligible now. In the modern iteration of the Rule 5, there have been multiple MVP and Cy Young Award winners that made the major leagues. Only one won his major award with the team that drafted him in the Rule 5, however. That was George Bell, who was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1978 Rule 5 and ended up winning the 1987 American League MVP award with Toronto.
Leading Off
A Review of the 2023 MLB Rule 5 Draft
By Benjamin Chase
For many fans of baseball prospects, an annual tradition took place on December 6 in Nashville on the last day of winter meetings - and no, not the tradition of the Yankees trading next to nothing for a big-name star in the game. No, the Rule 5 draft was held, and while just 11 selections were made in the major league portion, these players can have an impact, so we’ll review them to find out who could spend the 2024 season in the majors.
Mitch Spence, RHP, Oakland Athletics (from New York Yankees)
Spence is a guy who offers four pitches, but none is really above-average, so his chances of sticking as a starter are pretty low, but he could be a good guy to stick into a long relief role for the A’s. Spence could provide a buffer between a young Oakland staff and the back of the bullpen, though his stat line will likely not be anything to write home about.
Matt Sauer, RHP, Kansas City Royals (from Yankees)
Sauer has struggled through injury after injury in the Yankee system, having highlights (28 strikeouts and one walk over a two-start stretch in 2022) and lowlights (nine runs in 4 1/3 innings and six runs in 2 2/3 innings) come close together, with the aforementioned four starts all being consecutive starts in August 2022. He moved to the bullpen in 2023 once healthy, and the change was impressive. He continued the impressive bullpen showing at the Arizona Fall League, and the Royals are hoping he can continue that success all the way to Kansas City in 2024.
Anthony Molina, RHP, Colorado Rockies (from Tampa Bay Rays)
Molina has an impressive arm angle that allows his fastball and slider to work well. He may need to rediscover his sinker to be successful in Colorado, but his mid-90s fastball can hold velocity deep into games, so Colorado may give him a shot as a swingman this season that could move into the rotation if injury strikes the Rockies starters. Generating ground balls will be vital to Molina’s success in Colorado, and he saw a notable drop in his groundball rate in 2023 due to some reshaping of his fastball usage by Tampa Bay.
Shane Drohan, LHP, Chicago White Sox (from Boston Red Sox)
Drohan was well-known coming out of Florida State, but he’s not that same pitcher anymore. While his overall profile may not have changed from a backend starter or swingman at best in the majors, he’s altered his delivery as a professional. His performance in Double-A to open 2023 was impressive, but his Triple-A showing indicated the risks with his profile as he simply doesn’t have an “out” pitch. Drohan could fill out some innings for the White Sox, but they have a number of guys returning that are similar in profile, along with guys like Jared Shuster who were picked up in offseason trades and probably have a tick more stuff.
Nasim Nunez, SS, Washington Nationals (from Miami Marlins)
Initially, this selection bugged me as I’m a fan of Nunez and thought he could earn his way into the Marlins’ big-league plans with his impressive glove and speed. However, Washington is getting an elite defender and runner with some upside still to his bat. He should be more than adequate as a primary infield backup and could suffice for a short time if either of Washington’s young middle infield starters misses a chunk of time due to injury.
Ryan Fernandez, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals (from Red Sox)
The raw stuff for Fernandez may be as impressive as anyone in the draft, with a mid-90s fastball, an impressive cutter, and an above-average slider. Fernandez relies on batters chasing his stuff as it moves out of the zone frequently, and MLB hitters tend to do significantly less of that than minor league hitters. That all said, the Cardinals badly need relief help, and Fernandez could immediately help in the middle innings.
Justin Slaten, RHP, Boston Red Sox (from Texas Rangers via New York Mets)
The Mets picked Slaten and then immediately traded him to Boston. Slaten had a long reputation as a guy with big stuff and minimal command before 2023, when he drastically improved his walk rate, and his other pitches ticked up a bit in their effectiveness with his location improvement. Slaten has closer-style raw stuff with a fastball that works in the mid-90s and a sweeping slider that generates swing-and-miss along with a pair of other secondaries. He could work well in the middle innings for the Mets.
Deyvison De Los Santos, 3B, Cleveland Guardians (from Arizona Diamondbacks)
There were audible gasps and “oohs” in the room when the Guardians called De Los Santos’ name. Just 20, De Los Santos has already reached Double-A and shown impressive raw power. The issue is that Deyvison has also struggled to let any pitch go by as he’s extremely aggressive swinging the bat. The power is some of the loudest in all of minor league baseball, and if his second-half changes could stick, De Los Santos could be a player-type that Cleveland simply doesn’t have in their system with his huge power.
Stephen Kolek, RHP, San Diego Padres (from Seattle Mariners)
Kolek’s older brother Tyler was famously a big-armed teenager drafted third overall by the Marlins. While Stephen doesn’t quite have the same raw velocity, he has a mid-90s fastball that he can vary in shape, and he does the same thing with his breaker, which is naturally a sweeper but can shift from a slower curve to a harder slider. If the Padres can keep him in a sixth inning role in 2023, he’s got a chance to stick.
Carson Coleman, RHP, Texas Rangers (from Yankees)
What’s interesting is that the Rangers left Slaten unprotected and then took a righty reliever with a similar profile. Coleman has a huge fastball and his slider would be an excellent second pitch for a relief prospect if he could locate, but he struggled with that before having Tommy John surgery in April 2023, so the Rangers could hold him on injury reserve while he returns and pitches in complex league games this year before making a decision on whether to return him.
There were also more than 60 players selected in the minor league portion of the Rule 5, and while we don’t have enough room to look over every selection, check out the listing from Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, because typically at least one player selected in the minor league Rule 5 will make the major leagues for his selecting team eventually.
Benjamin Chase is a newspaper reporter in rural South Dakota with a passion for baseball. He is the co-editor of the IBWAA Here’s the Pitch newsletter, co-host of the Pallazzo Podcast prospect podcast, and he writes for Rotoballer, among others. He can be found under “biggentleben” on most social media platforms.
Extra Innings
While 15 players were selected in the 2022 Rule 5 draft, just six spent the entire season in the major leagues, and only four of those with the team that drafted them (two were traded immediately after being drafted). Of those players, Ryan Noda was the only player to finish with over 1 bWAR, totaling 2.3 bWAR in 2023 for the Oakland Athletics, as he hit .229/.364/.406 with 16 home runs over 128 games.