With the MLB Winter Meetings now in full swing, the Philadelphia Phillies have already made headlines after the team reached an agreement with former Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano on a one-year $8.5 million dollar deal with incentives. With two days left to go, it's possible the Phillies aren't done shopping yet, with many signs pointing to the team reshaping its roster after the 2024 season came to a disappointing finish.
Lost in the shuffle of free agents deals and eyebrow raising trade rumors is the MLB Rule 5 Draft which is scheduled to take place tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET. For those in need of a quick refresher about how the Rule 5 Draft works, players are eligible if they aren't on a teams 40-man roster, and turned professional at age 18 (prior to 2020), or age 19 from 2021 to present. With MLB team's fielding hundreds of players at different minor league levels, to protect or not to protect has become an annual reality for MLB executives for all 30 ball clubs.
The Phillies were forced to make those choices on Nov. 19, when the team added a trio of young pitchers to the 40-man roster. The most notable name of the bunch was Mick Abel, the Phillies No. 6 ranked pitching prospect who has seemingly hit a steep development curve over the last few seasons. Abel is still relatively young at age 23, and the Phillies clearly believe that the 2020 first round draft pick has plenty of room to figure out the control issues that have prevented Abel from earning an MLB call up over the last two seasons.
The Phillies also protected right-handed pitchers Jean Cabrera and Moisés Chace, moves that protect each player from being selected in either the MLB portion of the draft, or the five round minor league draft that has different ramifications if selected. Teams selecting in the MLB portion of the draft must carry a player on the 40-man roster all season, or offer the player back to the original organization. With that said, three Phillies minor leaguers with plenty of upside were left unprotected and are now eligible to be drafted in Wednesday's Rule 5 Draft.
3 prospects Phillies are in danger of losing in Rule 5 Draft
With all of that explained, let's take a look at three Phillies players who could be selected by other teams in this year's Rule 5 Draft.
Christian McGowan
When the Phillies selected right-handed pitcher Christian McGowan in the seventh round of the 2021 draft, the youngster's upper 90s four-seam fastball was impressive enough that the Phillies signed the Eastern Oklahoma State product well over slot value ($577,000). Looking the part of a potential MLB starter, McGowan only made two professional starts before undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right pitching elbow, before rehabbing his way back to the mound in 2023.
The injuries piled up again for McGowan in 2024, with the 24-year-old being sidelined for two months with a stubborn back injury. When healthy, McGowan appeared in 11 games (nine starts) for Double-A Reading this season, producing an uninspiring record of 0-4 along with a 6.29 ERA and a WHIP of 1.718 in 34 1/3 innings pitched.
McGowan was marginally better while pitching in the Arizona Fall League recently, producing a record of 2-1 and a 4.60 ERA while notching 11 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings pitched, while his 2.045 WHIP continued a troubling trend of allowing too many hitters to reach base. The Phillies only have so much roster space, so McGowan was an easy choice to leave unprotected in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.
Eiberson Castellano
A more concerning subtraction would be 23-year-old right-handed pitching prospect Eiberson Castellano. The Venezuelan native signed with the Phillies as an international free agent in 2018, spending parts of his first three seasons getting adjusted to professional baseball while pitching in the Dominican Summer League and for Single-A Clearwater between 2021 and 2023.
The Phillies’ minor league development staff opted to give Castellano a bigger challenge this past season, with the youngster starting his season with the High-A Jersey Shore BlueClaws, and later finishing the year with eight starts for the Double-A Reading Fightin Phils. All together, Castellano produced a record of 6-5 with a 3.99 ERA in 22 games across both levels, while leading all minor league pitchers in strikeouts (136) while walking 29 batters in 103 2/3 innings.
Despite being named the Phillies’ minor league pitcher of the year when organizational awards were handed out in September, the Phillies opted not to protect Castellano ahead of the Rule 5 Draft. It wouldn't come as a surprise if a rival team in need of young arms decides to select the durable strike-thrower during the minor league portion of the draft on Wednesday.
Griff McGarry
The Phillies may finally have thrown in the towel on attempting to fix former top pitching prospect Griff McGarry. The 25-year-old right-hander looked the part of a middle-of-the-rotation starter only a couple of seasons ago, but like fellow prospects Mick Abel and Christian McGowan, problems with control and a knack for allowing baserunners has created a developmental roadblock McGarry has been unable to correct after stalling out a Triple-A Lehigh Valley for two consecutive seasons.
The Phillies development staff decided to try something new with McGarry to begin the 2024 minor league season, when the team announced that the former starting pitcher would be converted into a full-time relief pitcher. That shift to the bullpen produced marginal results, with McGarry producing a record of 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA in 30 2/3 innings. While his 43 strikeouts highlights his ability to generate plenty of swing and miss, his 10.6 walks per nine innings left a lot to be desired.
McGarry is a player with a legitimate shot of being selected during the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Rival teams in need of bullpen depth could view McGarry as a worthwhile project worth fixing. McGarry's recent stint in the Arizona Fall League produced far better results than his time at Triple-A this season, and a team committed to lowering his walk rate with some adjustments could be intrigued by McGarry's high strikeout rate.