Phillies Prospects: Evaluating Who Could Be Selected in Rule 5 Draft
By John Town
The Phillies left several notable players off their 40-man roster, leaving them eligible for the Rule 5 draft. We’ll take a look at who could be selected.
When the Phillies added 11 players to their 40-man roster earlier this November, they made a commitment to a younger team for the future. The average age of their 40-man roster is about 25 years old with just two players over 30 in recent acquisitions Howie Kendrick and Pat Neshek. With this bevy of youth on the 40-man roster, the Phillies will be young both this year and for years to come.
Even though 11 players were added to the roster, there will still some players the team wished to protect. Klentak told Ryan Lawrence of Philly Voice, “We know we can’t protect everybody and we did our best to protect as many as we could.” Klentak said it would be “disappointing” to lose anyone in the Rule 5 draft but also “encouraging” because that means the Phils farm system is producing quality players.
The Phillies have kept both of their Rule 5 selections from the past two years – outfielders Odubel Herrera and Tyler Goeddel – for the full season required to hang onto them. It could go the opposite way in 2017. Let’s take a look at the likelihood of the Phillies losing someone to the next Rule 5 draft.