On Wednesday, teams will conclude the Winter Meetings with the Rule 5 draft. The draft typically doesn’t yield high-impact players, but teams can find some gems, such as when the Royals selected Joakim Soria and Brad Keller in past drafts.
Players are eligible if they are not on a 40-man roster and turned professional at age 18 or younger in 2020 or at age 19 or older in 2021. Teams must keep a selected player on the active roster all season or offer them back to their original team. Last year’s draft was a pretty good one, with Mitch Spence of the Athletics, Justin Slaten of the Red Sox, and Ryan Fernandez of the Cardinals all serving as useful arms.