So let's crowdsource a list of Astros' prospects that'll have to be protected in this years' Rule 5, shall we? (And I do mean
crowdsource you lazy pricks!)
So I'm sure you most of you have the Rule 5 draft rules memorized but for those few who might have forgotten:
1. A minor league player who was 18 or younger on the June 5th immediately prior to signing his first contract is eligible for selection starting with the 5th Rule 5 Draft following his first qualified season, and a minor league player who was 19 years or older on the June 5th immediately prior to signing his first contract becomes eligible for selection starting with the 4th Rule 5 Draft following his first qualified season.
2. If a player signs his first contract after the conclusion of the season of the MLB or minor league club to which he is first assigned (even if he signs prior to the Rule 5 Draft), the next season is considered to be the player's "first qualified season" for Rule 5 eligibility purposes. (Depending on the minor league, the conclusion of a minor league club's season could be as early as the first week of August, or as late as the second week of September).
3. A player eligible to be an MLB Rule 55 minor league free-agent who signs a minor league successor contract prior to being declared a free-agent and a free-agent with prior MLB and/or minor league service who signs a minor league contract prior to the Rule 5 Draft is eligible for selection if the player;was 18 or younger on the June 5th immediately prior to signing his first contract and it is at least the 5th Rule 5 Draft since he signed his first contract, or the player was 19 years or older on the June 5th immediately prior to signing his first contract and it is at least the 4th Rule 5 Draft since he signed his first contract.
4. Any player on a minor league reserve list who has either been released or had his contract voided and then re-signs with the same MLB organization within one year is eligible for selection.
5. Any player on a minor league reserve list who has been outrighted to the minors previously in his career is eligible for selection.
6. A player on the Voluntary Retired List, Disqualified List, or Ineligible List is not eligible for selection.
7. An MLB club can designate any player on a minor league reserve list "eligible for selection" in the Rule 5 Draft even if the player would not normally be eligible, but once a player is designated "eligible for selection," he remains eligible for selection in all subsequent Rule 5 drafts. NOTE: A club might do this if the club is planning to release the player during the off-season.
8. A minor league player-manager who would be eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft if he was only a player can be selected, but if he is selected, the player-manager can reject the selection and retire. He has 30 days to decide. If he rejects the selection and opts to retire as a player, the player-manager is ineligible to be reinstated as a player for a minimum of one year.
Rules 3-8 do come into play from time to time (though presumably Rule 8 hasn't been used in decades if ever). A recent case involving the Astros was Rule 4 and the Cionel Perez situation. But bottom line Rules 1 and 2 are far and away the primary ones that have to be dealt with. Here's how I would summarize the impact of those two rules on this year's draft as far as who would be eligible to be taken:
Category1. A HS draftee taken in 2014 or earlier
2. A college draftee taken in 2015 or earlier
3. IFAs aged 16-18 at signing who inked a contract in Aug 2014 or earlier
4. IFAs aged 19 and older at signing who inked a contract in Aug 2015 or earlier
Application of Rule 2 above to the IFAs is always the biggest challenge. Since those players are almost always assigned to the DSL or GCL and those leagues
generally end their seasons in August is where that month comes into play as the cutoff date.
So let's take this category by category and we'll start with the 1st (HSers taken in 2014 draft or earlier). I've got the following:
- C Ruben Castro--still relatively young at 22, having a nice offensive season for QC, no defensive scouting report but is throwing out 42% of baserunners
Agree or disagree with this list? I wanna see at least 3 responses before moving on to the next category.
(BTW, there's always a certain amount of org types dotting the rosters so let's exclude those from the list. I mean, does anyone really care if an Eduardo de Oleo is lost in the draft?)