Rule 5 (V), (Five) Draft

[Duman]

Let's get prepared for this years draft by looking at the seldom seen or understood minor league portions of the Rule 5 draft.  BA has a nice primer here.  This is the best quote to remember:

In the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft, teams may select any eligible player left off the major league 40-man roster or the Triple-A reserve roster of 38 players. In the Double-A phase of the draft, teams may select any eligible player left off the major league roster, the Triple-A reserve roster or the Double-A reserve roster of 37 players. In other words, a player selected in the Triple-A phase does not rank among his organization’s top 78 talents, and a Double-A selection does not rank among its top 115.

Edited to fix the BA link

[Reuben]

In other words, a player selected in the Triple-A phase does not rank among his organization’s top 78 talents

Oh geez, okay, so which one of us is going to compile the Top 78 Astros prospects list now?

Thanks for the link. I honestly did not understand the minor league phase at all before.

[VirtualBob]

Oh geez, okay, so which one of us is going to compile the Top 78 Astros prospects list now?

Thanks for the link. I honestly did not understand the minor league phase at all before.

You may still be missing a key word, "eligible" ... it is not just the top 78 prospects, but the top 78 prospects eligible for the draft.  I believe (though I am going on memory here) that that involves 4 or 6 years since the original signing (depending on age at signing).