The last day of the Winter Meetings is when the annual Rule 5 Draft is held and on Thursday there were eight recent California League players taken in the Major League and AAA phases. The Rule 5 Draft involves players who were unprotected by their parent clubs being eligible for selection by the other major league clubs. (Check MLB.com’s “About” page HERE)
According to the protocol, the players selected in the major league phase, four of them having played in the California League since 2012, will be on their new clubs’ major league active roster for the duration of the 2015 season. If not, they will be forfeited to their previous organizations.
If you’ve paid attention to the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, you know that the big-name success stories who have come out of this draft’s history include Johan Santana and Josh Hamilton. But, for the most part, these are players who weren’t placed on their organizations’ 40-man rosters within the stipulated four or five years of signing due to the fact that they haven’t had the hoped-for performance over time in the minors.
It’s another chance to get the career going for talented players who, for whatever reason, haven’t climbed their organizational ladder in a timely manner.
The major league phase of the draft included the following:
| # | NEW CLUB | PLAYER | OLD CLUB | |
| 3 | RANGERS | OF Delino DeShields Jr. | Astros | LAN ’12, ’13 |
| 7 | CUBS | SS Taylor Featherston | Rockies | MOD ’13 |
| 11 | BRAVES | RHP Daniel Winkler | Rockies | MOD ’13 |
| 12 | MARINERS | LHP David Rollins | Astros | LAN ’12, ’13 |
Players drafted in the AAA phase do not have to be placed on the active roster of the selecting club. Players with Cal League ties in this year’s AAA phase:
| # | NEW CLUB | PLAYER | OLD CLUB | |
| 1 | DIAMONDBACKS | RHP Timothy Crabbe | Reds | BAK ’11, ’12 |
| 6 | WHITE SOX | RHP Peter Tago | Rockies | MOD ’14 |
| 12 | BRAVES | C Steven Rodriguez | D-Backs | VIS ’13, ’14 |
| 22 | MARLINS | 1B Harold Riggins | Reds | MOD ’13, BAK ’14 |
