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MLB Rule 5 Draft Day Is Today! What Guardians Prospects Could Be Selected?

What Guardians Players Could Be Selected In The MLB Rule 5 Draft Wednesday

Todd Paquette

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Held each December annually on the last day of the Winter Meetings, the MLB Rule 5 Draft allows clubs without a full 40-man roster to select certain non-40-man roster players from other clubs.

Below is my list of 13 of the Guardians top players that are eligible to be selected in this year's draft by other teams tonight at 5:00pm eastern time when the draft begins.

Pitchers

The Guardians have a couple former first round picks both coming off Tommy John surgeries that will be available to be selected in Ethan Hankins and Lenny Torres. Hankins has only pitched one inning since the end of the 2019 season while Torres returned to action in 2021 but missed a significant amount of time due to the tragic death of his father last year.

The organization also has a handful of solid relief prospects in Nic Enright, Kevin Kelly, Nick Mikolajchak, Andrew Misiaszek who all spent time at Triple-A Columbus in 2022 as well as hard throwing reliever Trey Benton who finished the season at High-A Lake County.

One of the most intriguing pitchers that is available might be starter Peyton Battenfield who could be a useful potential 5th starter for a non-contending team in 2023. 

RHP - Peyton Battenfield

25-year-old starting pitcher

(Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 153.0(IP) 138(H) 67(R) 62(ER) 57(BB) 109(SO) 3.63(ERA) 4.68(FIP)

RHP - Trey Benton

24-year-old relief pitcher 

(Low-A) Lynchburg and (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 12(SV) 43.1(IP) 29(H) 18(R) 10(ER) 26(BB) 52(SO) 2.08(ERA) 4.52(FIP)

RHP - Nic Enright

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Double-A) Akron and (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 11(SV) 65.2(IP) 49(H) 24(R) 21(ER) 14(BB) 87(SO) 2.88(ERA) 2.89(FIP)

RHP - Ethan Hankins

22-year-old starting pitcher

Arizona Complex League

2022 - 1.0(IP) 0(H) 0(R) 0(ER) 0(BB) 1(SO) 0.00(ERA) 2.26(FIP)

RHP - Kevin Kelly

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Double-A) Akron and (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 4(SV) 57.1(IP) 42(H) 17(R) 13(ER) 22(BB) 75(SO) 2.04(ERA) 2.86(FIP)

RHP - Nick Mikolajchak

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 6(SV) 50.1(IP) 38(H) 20(R) 17(ER) 29(BB) 50(SO) 3.04(ERA) 4.02(FIP)

LHP - Andrew Misiaszek

25-year-old relief pitcher

(Double-A) Akron and (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 61.2(IP) 49(H) 16(R) 14(ER) 25(BB) 90(SO) 2.04(ERA) 2.75(FIP)

RHP - Lenny Torres

22-year-old starting pitcher

Arizona Complex League and (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 33.1(IP) 35(H) 37(R) 24(ER) 29(BB) 37(SO) 6.48(ERA) 6.79(FIP)

Position Players

In the position players group, there is some power to be had in catcher / infielder David Fry (17 HR's), first baseman Micah Pries (18 HR's), outfielder Alexfri Planez (19 HR's) and outfielder Jonathan Rodriguez (26 HR's). 

Also available is a young 20-year-old third base prospect Gabriel Rodriguez who spent the 2022 season at High-A Lake County but had his season cut short having to undergo surgery for a torn right labrum in his shoulder. Rodriguez signed for a Guardians International free agent record $2.1 million dollars back in 2018 out of Venezuela.

1B/3B/C - David Fry

27-years-old spent 2022 at (Triple-A) Columbus

2022 - 27(2B) 2(3B) 17(HR) 74(RBI) 39(BB) .256(AVG) .329(OBP) 105(wRC+)

1B/OF - Micah Pries

24-years-old spent 2022 at (Double-A) Akron

2022 - 29(2B) 5(3B) 18(HR) 73(RBI) 42(BB) .266(AVG) .341(OBP) 119(wRC+)

3B/SS/2B - Gabriel Rodriguez

20-years-old spent 2022 at (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 15(2B) 2(3B) 9(HR) 38(RBI) 34(BB) .272(AVG) .343(OBP) 112(wRC+)

OF - Alexfri Planez

21-years-old spent 2022 at (High-A) Lake County

2022 - 21(2B) 19(HR) 63(RBI) 16(BB) .251(AVG) .289(OBP) 106(wRC+)

OF - Johnathan Rodriguez

23-years-old spent 2022 between (High-A) Lake County & (Double-A) Akron

2022 - 23(2B) 4(3B) 26(HR) 74(RBI) 27(BB) .269(AVG) .318(OBP) 130(wRC+)

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Published
Todd Paquette
TODD PAQUETTE

Todd Paquette is a Cleveland-area sportswriter and minor league insider who covers the Cleveland Guardians and their farm system. He has been writing professionally since 2014 and has worked for Cleveland Guardians On SI since 2021.

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