Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
In the first Rule 5 Draft since 2019, the Dodgers ended up losing three prospects in the MLB phase — OF/1B Ryan Noda, LHP Jose Hernandez and RHP Gus Varland.
Here are the rules surrounding selecting players in the Rule 5.
“Not every club will make a selection, but those that do pick a player must pay $100,000 to the club from which said player was selected. Rule 5 Draft picks are assigned directly to the drafting club’s 26-man roster and must be placed on outright waivers in order to be removed from the 26-man roster in the subsequent season. Should the player clear waivers, he must be offered back to his previous team for $50,000 and can be outrighted to the Minors only if his original club does not wish to reacquire him. A Rule 5 Draft pick can be placed on the Major League injured list, but he must be active for a minimum of 90 days to avoid being subject to the aforementioned roster restrictions in the next campaign.”
Noda, 27 in March, was acquired in the Ross Stripling trade at the 2020 deadline and made it to Triple- A Oklahoma City last year. He hit .259/.396/.474 with 25 home runs and 20 stolen bases for OKC. He was previously Rule 5 eligible, but went undrafted. He was taken second overall by the Oakland A’s and, well, a more stereotypical player the A’s couldn’t have chosen. He’ll definitely have a chance to stick in Oakland and be a lefty thumper. He didn’t rank on either of my or Josh’s Top 30 list from last season.
Hernandez, 25 at the end of the year, pitched in High- and Double-A in 2022 and posted a 3.32 ERA and struck out 69 batters in 59 2/3 innings. He’s an interesting relief prospect who wans’t really on our radar much. The Pirates popped him with the third pick and, in all likelihood, will spend a fair amount of time in the Pittsburgh bullpen.
Varland, 26, was one of the players (Sheldon Neuse) acquired from the A’s for Adam Kolarek and Cody Thomas. While he has some interesting arm talent, he struggled to stay healthy while part of the Dodgers’ organization. He threw just 105 1/3 innings in two seasons with Double-A Tulsa and had a 5.98 ERA and a 10.9 K-BB%. If any org not named the Dodgers is going to turn him around, it’s the Brewers, who nabbed him with the 10th overall selection.
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The Dodgers added three players in the minor league phase — no roster restrictions required — of the Rule 5: RHP Yon Castro (Yankees), RHP Carlo Reyes (Phillies) and OF Josh Stowers (Rangers). They’ll be depth pieces in the upper minors. They also lost catcher Kekai Rios — acquired in last year’s Rule 5 MiLB phase — and RHP Jose Martinez, who has been with the organization for while.
