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2024 Rule 5 Draft Results

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The 2024 Rule 5 draft took place this afternoon at the Winter Meetings in Dallas. The results of the draft are below.

As a refresher, the Rule 5 draft is a way for players potentially talented enough for the big leagues but blocked by their current clubs to find opportunities elsewhere. Any players that were 18 and under at the time of their original signing and have played five professional seasons, and any players who signed at 19 years of age or older at signing that now have four professional seasons, who are not on a club’s 40-man roster are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Though the amateur (Rule 4) draft now has a lottery to determine the selection order, the Rule 5 draft still goes the old-fashioned way of reverse order of standings from the season that just ended. Clubs need to have an open 40-man roster spot in order to make a pick but aren’t obligated to make a selection on their turn. If they do make a pick, they will have to pay $100K to the team they select from. The selected players must stay on the active roster (or injured list) for the entire 2025 season or else be placed on waivers. If they clear waivers, they must be offered back to their original team. They cannot be optioned to the minors.

Last year’s edition saw some key players change clubs. The A’s took Mitch Spence from the Yankees with the top pick and kept him all year. Justin Slaten was plucked from the Rangers by the Mets and then traded to the Red Sox. Players like Anthony Santander and Ryan Pressly have been notable picks in other recent years while guys like George Bell and Roberto Clemente are found deeper in the history books.

Here are this year’s picks…

  1. White Sox: RHP Shane Smith (Brewers) (Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline relayed the pick on Bluesky prior to the draft)
  2. Rockies: pass
  3. Marlins: C Liam Hicks (Tigers)
  4. Angels: LHP Garrett McDaniels (Dodgers)
  5. Athletics: RHP Noah Murdock (Royals)
  6. Nationals: RHP Evan Reifert (Rays)
  7. Blue Jays: RHP Angel Bastardo (Red Sox)
  8. Pirates: pass
  9. Reds: 2B Cooper Bowman (Athletics)
  10. Rangers: pass
  11. Giants: pass
  12. Rays: LHP Nate Lavender (Mets)
  13. Red Sox: pass
  14. Twins: RHP Eiberson Castellano (Phillies)
  15. Cardinals: pass
  16. Cubs: 3B Gage Workman (Tigers)
  17. Mariners: pass
  18. Royals: pass
  19. Tigers: pass
  20. Astros: pass
  21. Mets: pass
  22. D-backs: pass
  23. Braves: RHP Anderson Pilar (Marlins)
  24. Orioles: pass
  25. Guardians: pass
  26. Padres: RHP Juan Nunez (Orioles)
  27. Brewers: LHP Connor Thomas (Cardinals)
  28. Yankees: pass
  29. Phillies: RHP Mike Vasil (Mets); Phillies later traded Vasil to Rays for cash considerations, per announcements from both clubs.
  30. Dodgers: pass

Second round (all but one club passed)

The minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft also occurred this afternoon. Those players will not go onto the selecting teams’ 40-man roster. Right-hander Hobie Harris, who pitched for the Nationals in 2023 and signed a minor league deal with the Mets last month, was taken by the Red Sox.

Mets’ Nate Lavender Undergoes Internal Brace Procedure

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Mets left-handed relief prospect Nate Lavender underwent a “variation of Tommy John surgery” with an internal brace added to his elbow ligament and will miss the remainder of the 2024 season, president of baseball operations David Stearns announced yesterday (X link via Tim Britton of The Athletic).

It’s a tough blow for the Mets and for Lavender, who had a strong chance to make his big league debut this season. The 24-year-old southpaw was the Mets’ 14th-round pick in 2021 but has elevated his stock and pitched quite well in the upper minors.

Last year, Lavender breezed through a brief seven-game look in Double-A — his only career action at that level — allowing just two earned runs while posting a 19-to-3 K/BB ratio in 10 1/3 frames. He quickly moved up to Triple-A Syracuse, where he tossed 44 innings of 3.27 ERA ball with a huge 35.1% strikeout rate, albeit against a 12% walk rate. He opened the ’24 campaign with another seven frames and only three runs allowed in Syracuse, although this year’s 20.6% walk rate in that small sample raised some red flags in the run-up to his placement on the injured list.

In writing up the Mets’ nearly MLB-ready prospects, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen credited Lavender with one of the most deceptive deliveries in all of Minor League Baseball. Longenhagen added that even though Lavender doesn’t throw particularly hard (91 mph average fastball), his heater is so difficult for hitters to track that it alone gives him the potential to be a big league reliever, despite less-impressive secondary offerings and below-average command.

Lavender doesn’t turn 25 until January, so he still has plenty of prime years ahead of him. If he can get back to his 2023-24 form, he’ll again be a candidate to make his big league debut at some point next summer. Lavender isn’t on the Mets’ 40-man roster but would be Rule 5-eligible this coming offseason.

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