Phillies Rumors: Club Loses Two Pitchers To Rule-5 Draft

The Phillies are closing the winter meetings out with the rule-5 draft, and there was some action during this years event.

When the Phillies announced their 40-man roster, there were notable exclusions. Most notably, four of the clubs younger, promising prospects (Tocci, Canelo, Pujols, Grullon) were up for grabs.

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Even with some of the Phillies top prospects in the pool, the attention was set on Reading OF Andrew Pullin. Luckily for the team, Pullin and the four prospects were not taken in this years rule-5 draft.

The Phils didn’t leave the draft clean however, losing two pitchers in both the major and minor league portions of the draft. Holby Milner (LHP), and Jairo Munoz (RHP), were the only Phillies selected, and Jorge Flores (SS, Blue Jays) was the only player the Phils selected (minor league portion).

Without digging too deep, the Phils are too deep throughout the system to be attached to relievers, and needed a shortstop for the minor league depth, so they went with flow and left the draft without any big losses.

Milner is talented, but it’ll be interesting to see if he actually sticks with the Indians for an entire season with a lack of true “stuff” and finesse style. Munoz has an electric arm, but injuries have derailed his development, and now he is gone to the Rays (the minor league portion of the draft allows teams to keep the selected player – majors or not – with no restrictions).

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As mentioned, the big news here is that Pullin wasn’t taken. He has the tools to stick with a losing big league team (similar to the Tyler Goeddel situation), but ultimately his experience at the AA level (only 46 games) was the likely deciding factor.

Now, Pullin can start his season at AA, hopefully continuing his growth within the Phils organization (.885 OPS last season). Not to mention, the Phils can see where the younger guys are at in their developments as well.

Next: Moniak Adds 20 Pounds Of Muscle

All is good on the farm, for now. But be sure to check back in with TBOH for any and all Phillies updates!