While the MLB Winter Meetings have taken on an entirely new look this year because of health concerns surrounding the pandemic, there won’t be anything from preventing the Rule 5 Draft from being orchestrated as normal.
Sure, teams will need to make their respective picks virtually—if they decide to make any selections at all—but the original rules of the event will remain intact.
The 2020 version of the draft will be conducted on Thursday, December 10—the final day of this year’s “virtual” Winter Meetings.
If a player signs with a big league team when he is 18, then he must be added to that team’s 40-man roster within five years or he becomes Rule 5 eligible, making him available to other teams for the taking at the draft.