We will have plenty of coverage coming up for the Rule 5 draft in early December. That will start with a look at the possible September call-ups next week. We will also have a preview before the Pirates have to set their 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft, followed by a Rule 5 preview the day before the draft takes place. For now though, here’s the current list of players who will be eligible this winter for the Rule 5 draft. This list below doesn’t include any of the upcoming minor league free agents, which we covered here. If any of them re-sign before the Rule 5 draft, then they will be eligible to be picked.
Eligible in Previous Years
Saul de la Cruz
Yerry De Los Santos
Nicholas Economos
Elys Escobar
Yeudy Garcia
Raul Hernandez
Logan Hill
Gage Hinsz
Christian Kelley
Sean Keselica
Tom Koehler
James Marvel
Cristofer Melendez
Winston Nicacio
Cody Ponce
Domingo Robles
Raul Siri
Jerrick Suiter
Mitchell Tolman
Nik Turley
Adrian Valerio
Brandon Waddell
The players who will be eligible for the first time this winter make up a fairly small list for two reasons. It includes college players drafted in 2016, high school players drafted in 2015 and most of the international signings from the 2015-16 signing period. The Pirates only signed two high school draft picks in 2015, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Ike Schlabach. The 2015-16 international group was only 19 players, partially due to the small bonus pool that year, but also because the Pirates spent nearly all of their money on the first day handing out six-figure bonuses. They only had one team back then and didn’t need to sign any fillers, so now you end up with what is left from that small class.
When I say “most of the international signings”, it excludes players who were 18 or younger and signed after the 2015 DSL season ended. That eliminated Rodolfo Castro and Oliver Garcia from being eligible this year, but Samuel Reyes is eligible from the 2016-17 class because he was already 20 years old when he signed on July 2, 2016.
First Time Eligible Players
Stephen Alemais
Blake Cederlind
Joel Cesar
Will Craig
Oneil Cruz
Matt Eckelman
Ke’Bryan Hayes
Samuel Inoa
Oddy Nunez
Hunter Owen
Arden Pabst
Samuel Reyes
Lolo Sanchez
Ike Schlabach
Pedro Vasquez
Cam Vieaux
