The Rule 5 draft is Thursday and the following is a list of players in the organization that are eligible to be selected in the major league portion. As has been noted several times previously, the new CBA made a change in the Rule 5 by adding a year of eligibility before a player can be drafted (now four years rather than three years for players signed at age 19 or older and five years rather than four years for players signed at age 18 or younger). So guys who otherwise would have been eligible this season are no longer. Accordingly, Hunter Pence and Chad Reineke (most prominently) didn’t have to be protected on the 40-man roster this winter and of course cannot be selected. And thus the players who are eligible are the same group who were eligible at this time last year (with the exception of players such as RHP Paul Estrada, INF Brooks Conrad and OF Mike Rodriguez who have since been added to the 40-man roster).
Far and away the most likely scenario is that none of the following players will be lost in the draft. All these players were Rule 5 eligible last season and went unselected and that’s the probable outcome this year. In the unlikely event a player is lost, it’s a virtual lock to be a pitcher. Chance Douglass would be the guess here with Raymar Diaz, Victor Garate, Jared Gothreaux, and Ronnie Martinez remote possibilities (some of those more remote than others).
Houston’s Rule 5 eligibles:
RHPs
- Raymar Diaz
- Chance Douglass
- Sammy Gervacio
- Jared Gothreaux
- Ronnie Martinez
- Ryan McKeller
- Rory Shortell
LHPs
- Doug Arguello
- Philip Barzilla
- Victor Garate
- Josh Muecke
- Enyelbert Soto
- Polin Trinidad
INFs
- Edwin Maysonet
- Mark Saccomanno
OFs
- Ervin Alcantara
- Frankie Caraballo