The Rule 5 Draft explained, from a player who went through it

LAS VEGAS — On the final day of the baseball winter meetings, the Rule 5 Draft used to toil in relative obscurity.

“My dad texted me, it must have been 8:30 in the morning,” said Seth Rosin, a pitcher who went through the process in 2013. “He said, ‘Did you see what happened?’ and said the Mets took me in the Rule 5 Draft. I had no idea what that was, so I Googled it, then got super excited about the opportunity.”

The Rule 5 Draft these days is gaining in popularity, if the burgeoning crowd Thursday in the Islander Ballroom at Mandalay Bay was any indication. Sure it was mostly reporters and scouts, plus team officials actually making the selections — but a full room is a full room.

Several others were listening on MLB.com. This is not a televised event, not yet anyway.

The basic theory behind the Rule 5 Draft — named literally for its placement in the Major League Baseball rule book — is so that top teams couldn’t hoard all the talented players. Teams pick players in inverse order of the previous year’s record, just like the MLB Draft in June, the one we’re all used to. That’s the Rule 4 Draft, if we’re getting technical.

Eligible players to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft are basically college draftees after their fourth professional season and high school-age draftees after their fifth year, who aren’t on a team’s 40-man roster.

If a player gets selected in the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, the new team plays $100,000 to the old team. Said player has to last the entire upcoming season on the active roster — there are some provisions built in for disabled list time — or be offered back to his original team at half the cost, $50,000. A Rule 5 selectee can be traded or be subjected to waivers, but any new team claiming the player would have to also keep said player on the active roster.

The best Rule 5 pick since the advent of organized minor league baseball is Roberto Clemente. Signed by the Dodgers in February 1954, Brooklyn didn’t have room on the major league roster for the then 19-year-old from Puerto Rico. After one minor league season — the rules were a little different back then — the Pirates scooped up Clemente in December 1954 in the Rule 5 Draft, with general manager Branch Rickey raiding his former team. Clemente was in the majors in 1955 and never looked back, winning an MVP and leading Pittsburgh to two World Series wins in his 18-year Hall of Fame career.

In recent times, the last few decades, the best Rule 5 heist was Johan Santana, plucked from the Astros in the 1999 Rule 5 Draft. Houston wasn’t the only team that rued letting Santana get away. The Marlins selected Santana in said draft, but traded him to the Twins for someone named Jared Camp.

All Santana did was post a 3.20 ERA in 12 major league seasons, with an ERA+ (136) higher than Sandy Koufax (131). Santana won two Cy Young Awards (2004, 2006) and probably should have won one or two more, finishing in the top five three more seasons.

Fourteen players were selected in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft on Thursday.

The most common outcome for these Rule 5 picks is they will be sent back to their original teams. These are for the most part players on the fringe, some with major league talent but perhaps not enough to occupy an active roster spot for an entire season.

Of the 18 players selected in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft, a whopping eight players saw major league time with their new teams in 2018, and six lasted the whole year. The results were mostly bad, but that’s to be expected and part of the trade off. Mostly bad teams — the Orioles, Pirates, Rangers, Royals, Tigers, Reds, and Marlins in 2018 combined for a .395 winning percentage, a 98-loss pace, with only Pittsburgh winning more than 67 games — carry a player in the majors for one year, with the hopes of continued development going forward. Rule 5 draftees who last a year on the active roster can be sent to the minors in subsequent years.

Seven of the eight Rule 5 picks who saw major league time in 2018 had negative WAR; they literally performed below replacement level. But one shining beacon stood out from the group.

Brad Keller started 20 games and relieved in 21 more, posting a 3.08 ERA in 140⅓ innings in Kansas City. Who knows if Keller will turn into a Johan Santana — spoiler alert: probably not — but his success in 2018 was the very reason the Rule 5 Draft exists. A major league quality player did not have a spot on the Diamondbacks, but found a place with the Royals. Not only did he find a place; Keller was Kansas City’s best pitcher, and his 3.5 WAR ranked second on the team, behind only second baseman Whit Merrifield.

But the Royals didn’t even select Keller in the Rule 5 Draft. The Reds took the right-handed pitcher from Arizona, then traded him to Kansas City on the day of the draft.

That happens often in the Rule 5 Draft. Of the 14 players selected on Thursday in the 2018 draft, two were immediately traded to other teams. Four of the 18 picks were traded in 2017. These deals are almost always for cash considerations.

Seth Rosin wasn’t even thinking about the winter meetings in 2013, but he did know he was left off the Phillies’ 40-man roster.

“I was pretty devastated. I thought I performed to a level where I thought I would at least get put on the roster,” Rosin recalled. “It didn’t even cross my mind about the Rule 5 Draft. I heard rumblings about it, but knew nothing about it, so I was going back to school.”

The 6’6 right-hander was invited to big league camp in spring training as a non-roster invitee in 2012, then later that year was sent to Philadelphia in the Hunter Pence trade. But after a 4.33 ERA mostly as a starter in Double-A Reading in 2013 he was not promoted to the 40-man roster, which after his fourth season as a college draftee left him eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft.

Not that he knew much about it.

Rosin was busy back at the University of Minnesota, where he finished up his degree, with his last final coming on the morning of the Rule 5 Draft. That’s when he got the text from his dad.

But the excitement took a turn, as Rosin’s time as a Met lasted less than an hour. Soon the Dodgers swooped in and acquired Rosin for cash, which presented a much different opportunity.

“I saw the roster they had, and learned about the rules of having to make the 25-man roster to stay there,” Rosin said. “I saw the task ahead of me; I think everybody in the bullpen had some closer experience in the big leagues, and all had big fat salaries so I knew I had my work cut out for me.”

That was the most expensive bullpen in Dodgers history, with closer Kenley Jansen ($4.3 million) surrounded by veterans Brian Wilson ($10 million), Brandon League ($7.5 million), J.P. Howell ($7 million), Chris Perez ($2.3 million) and Jamey Wright ($1.8 million). With six established major league relievers already making $33 million, there isn’t much room for rookies.

“Going into spring training I felt comfortable. I went in there with no pressure, and knew my chances of making the team were very slim,” Rosin said. “I was just trying to observe how everybody else conducted themselves and learn from them.”

A pressure-free spring training saw Rosin post a 1.64 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings, which opened some eyes in Dodgers camp. A strange quirk helped Rosin stick around, too. The Dodgers in 2014 opened their season with two regular season games in Australia against the Diamondbacks. These games were a week before the real regular season began, and because of the oddity both clubs were allowed to submit 28-man rosters for the trip down under, three of which were inactive. Two of the Dodgers left behind were starting pitchers, allowing extra room for Rosin to make the active roster in the bullpen.

“It was a proud moment, my dad got to come with us on the team plane,” he said. “It was the best baseball experience I ever had.”

He made the trip to Australia but didn’t pitch in either game. Then in the week in between Australia and the domestic regular season Rosin was traded to the Rangers, and he made their opening day roster too.

“The stars couldn’t have aligned any better,” Rosin said. “My Rule 5 story was very unique compared to the others, and being the only player to be on two opening day rosters.”

Brandon Brennan, a right-handed pitcher selected by the Mariners in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, has a chance to match Rosin’s two opening days. Seattle is set to open their 2019 season in Japan with two games against the A’s on March 20-21. Baseball’s domestic regular season opens a week later, on March 28.

Brennan would have to be traded or claimed off waivers in that interim week to match Rosin, but that’s just the kind of vagabond life that several baseball players lead. Rosin himself didn’t last in Texas long. He was sent back to the Phillies on April 11, 2014, less than two weeks after he joined the Rangers. He made it back to the majors in 2015 with Philadelphia, too, pitching once in relief. Chances that might not have come were Rosin not selected in the Rule 5 Draft in the first place.

“It was probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my career, to be honest,” he said.