With the MLB Winter Meetings winding down, Wednesday afternoon was reserved for the annual Rule 5 Draft. With plenty of intriguing players across the board available to be selected, the Philadelphia Phillies lost former top pitching prospect Griff McGarry to the Washington Nationals of all teams.
As a quick recap of the Rule 5 Draft rules, players who were drafted or signed at age 18 or younger in 2021 or at 19 or older in 2022 are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, as long as they're not on a 40-man roster.
A team that selects a player must pony up $100,000 to his former team. The real catch is that selected players must spend the entire season on their new team's active roster. They can't be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers and then getting offered back to their original team for $50,000.
Nationals pick Phillies right-hander Griff McGarry with third pick in Rule 5 Draft
The Phillies left plenty of players unprotected this year, although they did add right-handers Andrew Painter and Alex McFarlane along with outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. to the 40-man roster. The one name everyone was watching was right-hander Griff McGarry, who was left off the roster at the deadline.
Despite some red flags in a high-risk profile, McGarry's stuff and upside tempted the NL East rival Nationals to select him with the third-overall pick on Wednesday. He was the only Phillies player selected in the MLB portion of the draft.
McGarry was a fifth-round pick in 2021. The former top prospect, ranked as the Phillies' No. 3 MLB Pipeline prospect as recently as 2023, has had ongoing command struggles. At 26, he has been racking up strikeouts in the minors but still issuing too many walks.
In a resurgent season in Double-A this year, McGarry pitched to a 3.25 ERA with 103 strikeouts in 72 innings. However, he also allowed 45 walks for a much-too-high 14.8 percent walk rate. He made one start with Triple-A Lehigh Valley at the end of the season, going five strong innings with eight strikeouts and two walks. McGarry's efforts earned him the 2025 Paul Owens Award as the Phillies' top minor league pitcher.
The Nationals obviously like what they see in McGarry and will give him a shot to make the Opening Day roster. They'll most likely want to see how his strikeout stuff plays out of the bullpen, although his recent experiment as a reliever didn't exactly go smoothly.
McGarry threw 30 2/3 innings of relief at Triple-A in 2024 as the Phillies tried to see if a shift to the bullpen would help hone his command. He posted a 4.70 ERA and 1.92 WHIP, and while he had a 27.2 percent strikeout rate he also carried a 24.5 percent walk rate.