Part of the yearly Major League Baseball Winter Meetings is the Rule Five Draft. The Rule Five Draft is designed to give players that have been stuck in the minor leagues their entire career a shot at reaching the MLB level. Any player that has spent the past four years in the minor leagues, and is not on a 40-man roster, is eligible for the Rule 5 Draft.
Last week, the Pittsburgh Pirates protected four players from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. You can read more about that and those players here. However, one player that was left unprotected was left-handed pitcher Brandon Waddell.