Red Sox Lose Talented 21-Year-Old Hurler In Rule 5 Draft Shocker

One of the most fascinating events of the Major League Baseball calendar took place on Wednesday: the Rule 5 Draft.

Teams received opportunities to poach certain players from other organizations who weren't on their clubs' 40-man rosters. The catch, of course, is that those players must stay on the active major league roster (or injured list) all season, or they're returned to their original teams.

The Boston Red Sox had plenty of candidates to be selected this year, but as it turned out, they lost just one player, and very few could have anticipated that he would be the one on the move.

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Jedixson Paez headed to Windy City

According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the Chicago White Sox selected 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Jedixson Paez with the second-overall pick in the draft. Paez, who the Red Sox signed out of Venezuela in 2021, will be added to Chicago's 40-man roster.

It's rare that a Rule 5 pick can be classified as a stunner, as no one is able to truly predict how teams see other organizations' prospects. But Paez was classified as an "unlikely" candidate to be selected by MassLive's Christopher Smith on Wednesday, and it's not hard to see why.

"It seems unlikely Paez would be selected in the Rule 5 Draft because the 21-year-old has not yet pitched above High-A Greenville," Smith wrote. "He also missed much of ‘25 due to a calf injury.

"But he does have excellent control with just 49 walks in 307 ⅔ innings in the minors and a 3.9% walk percentage. He also pitched well in his limited sample size last year, with a 2.79 ERA while holding opponents to a .228 batting average in seven starts for Greenville."

So to recap, barring an unexpected injury, the White Sox are going to have Paez skip Double-A and Triple-A altogether to make his major league debut fresh out of spring training, and they cannot option him to Triple-A at any point during the regular season. It's the type of bold move a last-place team can theoretically afford to make, but it could come at the expense of proper development.

Boston protected three pitchers from the Rule 5 who were much closer to their debuts in David Sandlin, Tyler Uberstine, and Shane Drohan by adding them to the 40-man roster last month. Losing Paez is a blow to the farm system, no doubt, but it's hard to assign any blame.

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