There really hasn’t been much reason to pay attention to the Rule 5 draft around here for a long time. The Nationals haven’t selected a player in the annual event since 2010, and they’ve had only one player poached from them since 2014.
That’s probably going to change this winter. Because for the first time in a long time, the Nats own one of the first picks in the Rule 5 draft. Specifically, the first pick.
That means Mike Rizzo and his front office have their choice of any unprotected prospect in baseball. All they have to do is pony up $100,000 and be willing to keep any drafted player on their active, 26-man roster (or the injured list) for the entire 2023 season. If they decide at some point they aren’t willing to do that, they can offer the player back to his original club for $50,000.
The Rule 5 draft wraps up the Winter Meetings, so the Nationals have three weeks to evaluate potential acquisitions. When they were annually attempting to contend for a postseason berth, they didn’t feel they could afford to use a roster spot on an inexperienced player like that. Now that they’re in full-scale rebuilding mode, there’s plenty of reason to take a flyer on somebody of their choosing.
And they’ll have a much better idea of the pool of candidates available at the end of the day, because all Major League Baseball clubs are required to add Rule 5-eligible prospects to their 40-man rosters by 6 p.m., thereby protecting them from being snatched up.