The Angels are picking 4th in the Rule 5 draft starting today at 11:00 A.M. PST. Will they pick anybody or will they pass?
Here is the live results link.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
The Angels are picking 4th in the Rule 5 draft starting today at 11:00 A.M. PST. Will they pick anybody or will they pass?
Here is the live results link.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
No surprise that the Dodgers have/had a pitching traffic jam that allowed a few farm pitcher(s) to be plucked via Rule 5 considering they sign like, what 20% of all MLB FA pitchers?
(Facetious tone used)
With the Angels farm ranked as low as it is and with the 4th pick in each round, Perry only took 2 players in the minor league rule 5 draft. Philly took 6 players. Way to raise the floor Perry.
To be fair, the Rule 5 draft is not any more efficient a way to “raise the floor” than minor league free agency, where most of the Rule 5 eligible players will be in the next year or two.
Maybe 2-3 Rule 5 selections stick on an MLB roster and achieve 1+ WAR each season. And most who last all season on a team’s roster make little measurable impact.
I’ve never done the analysis, but I suspect that minor league free agents / NRI guys hit with the same frequency as Rule 5 selections if all the data is aggregated.
22 players were picked in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th rounds of the Minors draft after the Angels stopped in the 2nd round. I could have seen the Angels take two more players from farms ranked much higher than ours.
Flyers are Flyers.
Even top 10 ranked teams kept picking.
darren o’day is the only player i think about when i hear “rule 5 draft”
Roberto Clemente for me.
Well, that’s no fun. Why let facts and sober assessment get in the way of impotent teeth-gnashing?
Rule 5 draft is really not that big of a deal. I don’t think it deserves its own thread. It’s much ado about very little.
You kind of sound like the Guardiandians when they realized they screwed up by leaving Anthony Santander unprotected
With Rule 5 acquisitions you have to plan for corresponding roster moves and potential/eventual offer scenarios.
Minors section of rule 5.
No corresponding moves needed.
Interesting tidbit from TBW about this dude —
just got word from scout: mid 9’s tapping 98 in relief
https://x.com/TaylorBlakeWard/status/1866932440289382499?t=IxvPA8MlidFiC5rYR4KTbw&s=19
Wha? Did not seem like that to me, but hey, that would explain the spike in Ks…
If he’s hitting 98 after sitting 92-93 as a starter last year, that’s obviously…new and different.
Hasn’t been something otherwise mentioned in scouting reports (or obvious on video) until TBW – so the question is sustainability.
I think the BA summary is still the most apt: “Fringe-average control” and “As a lefty with four pitches, McDaniels has a chance, but the jump from Class-A to the majors is hard to pull off.”
That’s the gamble on Rule 5s, if you can retain them for a little while longer (Than the system is set up for) you may end up with a good young player.
Didn’t Perry get Soriano via Rule 5? If so, he knows what he is doing on that level.
No we lost him in the Rule 5. But the Pirates had to give him back.
Fringe average control that had a 6.67 K/BB ratio his last 21 games he pitched in the minors.
Someone must have forgot to tell the batters he faced last year not to swing
Ok, but will he last longer than Taylor Featherston?
Inquiring minds want to know….
Eat it Dogers!!!!
If you can’t beat’em, take from them.
Ohtani compensation!!!
Take another one next year!
Stats wise, this is the kind of guy I want to go after in the rule 5. He’s a lefty relief pitcher who had good strikeout rates last year. He may or may not be ready, but he can be used in lower leverage spots while we see if he’s any good.
Here’s some boring minor league video of our newest MLB bullpen piece.
https://x.com/rmfalla/status/1866928113915138527
And some more
https://x.com/dodger_daily/status/1829889113056559448
But wait theres even more!
https://x.com/dodger_daily/status/1832086650962559087
Just a personal bias, but I love the aesthetics of the high leg kick.
It always just makes me think “here comes ball four with max effort”. I pitched with a high leg kick back in the day till a smart coach made me stop. Push off, don’t fall down was the motto….
Here’s a blast from the (too recent) past:
23. Guardians: Will Wilson, SS (Giants Double-A)
Cleveland grabbed the Angels former first rounder in the minor league selection phase.
No Angels minor leaguers were selected in the same phase.
No but we got ourselves another catcher.
41. Royals: Landon Marceaux, RHP (Mets Single-A)
Even at drafting, I thought Marceaux was a stretch. Command righty with low velocity who never missed many bats.
84 K’s over 73.1 innings is nice. 29 walks and hitting 4 dudes over that same period is not.
Garrett got 7 starts last year in the Cal League but was moved to the bullpen when he was promoted to High A and AA. Over 21 bullpen appearances at the higher levels he put up 28.1 innings of 2.22 ERA with 40ks vs. only 6 walks.
Slash line against as a reliever: .193/.254/.248 with no home runs allowed.
The fact that he looks like a pretty good relief pitcher is no reason for me to roundly declare that this pick is a massive failure and PTPs stoopidz moves in the rule 5 draft will sink this team yet again. Right?
Hard to generalize from 19 high-A relief appearances in his age 24 season, though.
Kind of the equivalent of Nick Mondak in the Angels system.
That’s true. nobody knew what kind of pitcher Chuck Finley would be when the Angels plucked him off of their single A roster
I’m probably missing this joke. The Angels scouted Finley in HS and college and drafted him twice, enamored of his velocity and movement. He was effective, largely due to the forkball he developed, within two years of being selected #4 in the draft.
California clearly had very high hopes for Finley, even if they were uncertain he’d ever master his control.
I guess I am too since I wasn’t joking. I was making the point that it is not impossible for 23+ year old to skip AA & AAA and still have success at the major league level.
That was 40 years ago, in an ‘eye test’ era when scouting tech was rudimentary at best, expensive radar guns were often 5-7mph off the mark, and prospect game film was almost nonexistent. And Finley was a first-rounder selected #4 overall who was being closely monitored by Gene Mauch specifically because the Angels system was bereft of promising left handing pitching.
If Finley, even an outlier in the mid-80s, is evidence that a 25-yr-old 30th rounder can elude the Dodgers’ impressive player development panopticon in 2024 and the Angels have a special time-travel beat we’re just becoming aware of, we’ve got quite a ride ahead of us.
I think the Doyers do/will let some good players slide out of their system just cause you can’t keep em all.
True – and maybe McDaniels cooks when given a shot. One of these days the Angels’ focus on the last 2-3 months of performance will yield something, just because occasional short bets payoff.
You dont mean the same Wonderful Doyer development system that more recently dumped superstar Yordan Alvarez for some journey trash?
Got it.
Ok, you’re right, they traded a 16 yr old who had never played a day in pro ball and thus had never been developed – they suck.
A Friedman trade that he vocally regrets, but you aren’t going to win every trade that involves a promising teen. The Dodgers literally have hundreds in the pipeline across their Latin programs.
You’re feisty today, Cowboy! (I’m checking out though – got chores to do.)
Yep must be withdrawals from the lackluster winter meetings
Your points are all solid enough… but calling Finley a “first-rounder” is a bit (lot?) misleading. He was selected in the old January draft wasn’t he? As someone who pathetically memorized Angels draft picks as a middle-schooler, I can tell you he was not a first-round June amateur selection. We got next to zilch in those early/mid 80s drafts.”Mark Doran” springs to mind.
Also wondering if 70-whatever-something Gene Mauch was really all that involved with Finley’s development. I remember being a little surprised and intrigued when they brought him up… figured they just hit the lottery.
We really probably only need 20 passable innings off him and this’ll be a win. He’ll be the back up pen lefty7
Or if he blows out a major body part after only 2 months then we can keep him as long as we want without returning him.
Of course it has to be legitimate injury cuz Perry aint Billy.
That is one heck of a small sample size. I’d love to know if he added a pitch or changed his pitch mix to avoid a weak one or something.
At least we’ll get to see him in Tempe.
From video, I think A ball hitters are struggling to pick up the breaker given all the moving parts and deception. The question is whether more advanced hitters just wait out the breaker, or whether he can hit the bottom of the zone with it with greater frequency.
That’s what I’m thinking. The Angels brass scouted his film, thought “hey, we can make that off speed stuff work down in the zone if we try XYZ” and they took him to see if they can get that going by April. If not, he goes away, no harm no foul.
But they saw a thing they think they can tweek easily and went for it.
The Angels grabbed Gustavo Rodriguez in the minor league rule 5 round. Another unexciting guy.
Is it because he is 23 but looks like he’s 33? Or is it all the walks? He probably just throws real hard and is a flyer…. no harm in trying him out I guess.
Very little downside to Rule 5 minor league picks.
No harm. I think it probably takes some doing to get yourself released by the Peoria Chiefs, though.
Read that most rule 5 draftees don’t pan out……..sign people to one yrs. Cut your losses if they fail and move on…
For a $50,000 minimum investment who gives a shit?
Odd use of a roster spot. Not a notable prospect, with very little experience at upper levels of the minors. Control is suspect, nothing special in velocity.
There were more advanced arms available with AAA success. Don’t quite get this one.
Yeah. Not sure why they took this guy instead of Reifert other than handedness. Maybe they watched some video on their circa 2005 Alienware laptops in the renovated bathroom that is the S&D Office at the Big A and saw the reason McDonalds cheese got so much nastier at Great Lakes? I mean, that is a pretty sick jump in K rate and drop in walk rate….
Ah well, nothing lost if nothing gained….
Yeah, I’m hardly omniscient when it comes to long-in-the-tooth A ball relievers, not least pitchability lefties. But it just seems like the profile of typical minor league free agents who come and go as roster filler. We’ll see.
The Angels clearly have decided lefties that don’t throw with overpowering velocity are an underpriced and under-appreciated lot. Hence, they have been acquiring several. It’s their version of Moneyball in 2024 IMHO.
Although they didn’t feel pitchability lefty par excellence Ryan Prager was worth his asking price, ha.
Since his asking price would have included losing yesterdays lottery awarded pick I dont think he was worth it either.
If they truly wanted him, they would have given Dylan Jordan – a fringey prepster that most folks were valuing at $300-500k – less funny money. They offered a late reliever (Cortez) on the same team that Prager was the ace starter more money than Prager himself, at a time when Prager will probably fetch $500-700k this year in NIL money. Of course he was going to decline. He’ll just bank the money and probably reenter this year’s draft at a similar ranking as last year’s.
So reiterating my response to Angelstan’s point – pitchability lefties are only something the Angels have been recently collecting if they come at minimal cost. I don’t think there’s much in the Angels’ recent history that suggests they’ve found a LHRP moneyball niche that is setting their bullpen apart.
Woo Hoo! we stole ourselves a Doyer.
Any info? Seems to enjoy walking guys, he’ll fit right in, as long it’s with 2 outs.
https://www.baseballamerica.com/players/327844-garrett-mcdaniels/
Angels: Garrett McDaniels, LHP (Dodgers)
opinions, please?
Maybe this means that finally, once and for all, Jose Suarez is gone?
He spent the majority of 2024 at Rancho Cucamonga where he didn’t exactly set the world on fire according to his WHIP. He only had 3 innings at AA. Maybe Perry just wants to check him out and maybe throw him back. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=mcdani000gar
I suspect he’ll be returned by April.
With a restocking fee.
he was promoted from Low A to High A on June 27th. He was promoted from A+ to AA for 2 relief appearances in mid September. His A+ & AA numbers were much more impressive than his Cal League numbers ( maybe he found himself?)
21 Games 2.22 ERA 12.7 K/9 ( 6.66 K/BB!!!) .502 OPS against . .95 WHIP
It looks like we got ourselves a LHP bullpen piece Cant be any worse than Suarez or Brock Burke coming out of the pen.
You’d be surprised how easy it is to be worse than Brock Burke these days….
I mean, he turns 25 this week. If he’s not dominating high-A ball hitters, he was probably a release candidate in the Dodgers system.
So Kind of like Garrett Whitlock only left handed?
Maybe they transposed surnames!
Just add four inches to McDaniels, 5mph to the heater, switch gloves, give him a power sinker, and put him under the knife, and it’s virtually the same player. 🙂
Whitlock was definitely one of the recent rare successes in Rule 5 drafting tho – a top ten guy in NYY’s system on many lists in ’19, and still projecting as a starter when the Red Sox rolled the dice, assuming he’d come off TJ rehab with stuff resembling the arm he was pre-’20. Definitely worked for a while.
There are definitely more than a few. I think about 20% of the recent rule 5 draftees actually make it through the season with the team that choses them.
But for a $50,000 net investment , its definitely a cheap gamble
I don’t sweat Rule 5 transactions one way or the other, unless it’s a promising prospect that goes unprotected and the team loses him unnecessarily for some taxi squad middle reliever.
Just saying that this seems like a fringier selection to me than usual, and comparing McDaniels to 1985 Finley or 2020 Whitlock sits on a spectrum of trolling that feels more frivolous than fun. But YMMV.