J.J. Cooper at Baseball America put together a list of the notable players available in the upcoming Rule 5 draft. No Pittsburgh Pirates players were among the top ten players available, but two got mentioned as notable options. Jose Tabata got mentioned based solely on his contract, while Yhonathan Barrios was among the hardest throwing pitchers that weren’t protected.
Cooper mentions that Tabata has $8.5M left on his contract over the next two years so he won’t be picked. That seems like a safe assumption.
Barrios was signed as a shortstop before switching to the mound during the 2013 season. Shortly after making the switch, it was reported that he hit 99 MPH and has since hit triple-digits. He has only reached High-A ball, and with very little pitching experience, he would be a big gamble for some team. There are also numerous other pitchers(14 to be exact) listed as hard-throwers, so he doesn’t really stand out. Among the group are five other pitchers that have hit 100 MPH, players with much more experience and guys that throw mid-90’s in the starting role.
We posted an article last week covering the top prospects in the system that were left unprotected.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
What about Delino Jr? Speedster with pop and versatile enough to play IF and OF? Really young too.
One thing that will not be overlooked with de Shields is his attitude.
John- how would you like to make a comment on the rule 5 system. Of all the things that are broken, or obsolete, I really think this is one of them. Not only does it hurt small market teams, it also hurts the players. From a collective bargaining standpoint, I don’t see why either side would benefit from this. The players who get picked are rushed to the majors, which hurts their development and can damage their entire career. Very few players even whom had initial success, ever had good careers. Seeing as a very high % of rule 5 picks are established mid level prospects, I would think the overall success rate for players of that caliber are much higher if they are not picked rule 5 than the % whom had reasonably succesful major league careers.
Or maybe even in today’s system, it would make sense to add one more year after signing before eligible for the draft to allow for a little more development
I absolutely hate it and not just for the chance that you have a chance to lose a prospect. It’s an antiquated system that gained popularity before the draft when a team like the Yankees could sign everyone out of HS or college and stash them in their minor league system. Basically, so they would always have a top replacement in case of injury. Why it has continued this far since the draft is beyond me
Does the Yankees recent signing of just about every international prospect start to create the same inequity that existed pre-draft? If so, the Rule V draft might become relevant again.
I don’t think so because international players are such a crapshoot and for the next two years, they can’t sign anyone significant. Most teams won’t do what they did unless they find one special player. This wasn’t a great year for international players, most experts said it was average. So what they did was pay double for every player they signed(after the most expensive one) and severely limited what they can do for two years. The 2016 class might turn out to be 10x better than this year, but how would you know that when the kids in it were 13-14 years old in May when they decided to do this.
The overwhelming majority of Rule 5 guys are fringe prospects, at best.
Really not a big deal.
given the jump in salaries so far this year it really wouldn’t surprise me if some team grabbed Tabata
We’d be ecstatic if someone did, it would be like writing us a 4 million dollar check
What I read in this article is our great system has no one anyone would want as a rule 5.
IC your sarcasm is misguided. The Pirates have protected most of the players that have a realistic chance of being picked up. Also it’s not that we don’t have strong prospects that aren’t protected. Even though they are a good prospect teams aren’t going to put them on the 25 man roster for the whole 2015 season.
You are correct I was being sarcastic. There are a number of names that we considered really good prospects a couple of years ago that now are no longer anymore then minor league depth. Also when I seed names like Pedro Flomine (pretty sure I butchered his name) and Jacob Elmore on the 40 man roster it tells me we don’t have as much depth at the high levels as would like to think.
Another thing they have to have been originally signed 4 to 5 years ago. So the Pirates don’t need to protect most of the players we drafted going back until the 2010 draft. Actually it would seem that if you have rule 5 eligible players that have been in your system that long and still not on the 40 would mean they aren’t developing.
Barrios is exactly the type of guy who could get picked and stashed at end of a bullpen.
Rojas could get picked too. Could try to hide him as a 5th OF. Plays good defense, including CF, and can run the bases.
Yes he could. We have lost 2 pitchers in the last 3 years. Tim keeps forgetting that. I don’t think Barrios could be stashed honestly, but Creasy certainly could
You mean Barrios can be ” stashed ” like the Brewers ” stashed ” Wang last season ? Good luck with that. Rojas I would be a be a better possibility.
Pitchers are way easier to stash, a much higher % of them are kept with the added amount of bullpen arms teams have vs. bench spots. A player like Rojas whom can really only play corner outfield spots, and isn’t a world burner on the base paths, gives very little value to a team looking at a rule 5 pick
Why stash Rojas ? He is probably ready to be a 4th or 5th outfielder. Barrios is no more ready for MLB than Wang was, and ” stashing ” a pitcher with his background and age is as close to a career killer as you can get.
Sure worked for the Brewers, not like they were forced to lean on on a few guys too heavily due to a useless sack at the end of the bullpen and tanked come prime time in August.