The Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft took place on Wednesday. Despite the ongoing lockout cancelling the Major League portion of this event, the Minor League phase could continue without issues. The Los Angeles Angels took advantage in a small way, making one selection.
The Minor League Rule 5 Draft works similarly to the Major League phase. Players who are not protected on their team’s 38-man Triple-A roster — as opposed to the Major League 40-man roster — are eligible to be selected. The players still must be signed at age 19 or older and have been in professional baseball for at least four years.
In the Minor League phase, a selecting team must give their drafted player’s original team $24,500, compared to the $100,000 from the Major League phase. The final difference is that the new team does not have to place their drafted player on their 26-man roster or offer the player back to their original team if they cannot.
Moving to the results of this Rule 5 Draft, the Angels selected LHP Kenny Rosenberg from the Tampa Bay Rays and did not have any player stolen from them.
Rosenberg is 26 years old and has a career ERA of 3.90 in the Minors. However, 2021 was one of his best seasons. In 41.2 innings — mostly out of the bullpen in Triple-A — Rosenberg held a 2.81 ERA, a 1.200 WHIP, and 59 strikeouts compared to 16 walks.
Rosenberg is likely to start the 2022 season with the Angels Triple-A team, the Salt Lake Bees. However, it’s not unheard of for a Minor League Rule 5 selection to make an immediate impact with his new club. More than any other pro sport, a successful Major League career can come from legitimately any path.
MLB, MLBPA still at odds
In the early stages of the MLB lockout, it doesn’t appear that there is any traction in negotiations between the league and the players. One of the reasons for this is that both are telling completely different stories in the media.
According to Rob Manfred, the players are making radical proposals and not relenting from them, while the players say that Manfred has drawn lines in the sand that are completely unreasonable, such as not being willing to negotiate things like arbitration.