Season 52 Rule Five Draft Recap

 

Here is a re-cap of this seasons Rule 5 Draft. Ranking the best 10 players taken based entirely on this seasons performance

#10.  I have a three-way tie here as these 3 pitchers had great seasons but were limited in their impact due to a small sample size

Rickey Dodd-36^th Pick- Burlington- Rickey was the last player taken in this years draft that will make an appearance on this list. He is also the first of two Burlington players on it. While he only pitched 31 Innings he was dynamite posting a matching WHIP and ERA of 0.57. Dodd projects to be a solid ML pitcher

Garry Sanders-8^th Pick-Rochester-Another crazy good season aside from only pitching 34 innings.  A 0.84 WHIP and a 1.05 ERA Sanders will probably never amount to much more then a solid Bullpen arm

Santiago Lee-5^th-Wichita- Lee turned in a great season in his 49 appearances. A 31-8 K/BB and a 2.09 ERA. Frankly though he will most likely fall back to earth as he isn’t really that good.

#9. Eli Hernandez-10^th-Seattle- Hernandez had a top flight season with the Glove picking up 20+ plays with 0 Negative ones. Also chipped in with 19 steals.  Hernandez is a solid option on the bench to help with all a teams defensive needs and some pinch running.

#8. Another tie

Joel Monroe-1^st-Buffalo-Taken first overall Monroe did a solid job out of Buffalos pen. He worked 92 innings and had respectable 4.61 ERA. He could compete for a Starting Rotation spot next season

Art Krueger-19^th-Pittsburgh- Taken by Pittsburgh he did all his damage with Chicago. 66 games and 99 innings with a 4.00 ERA He also won 6 games while saving 3. He is most likely suited as a Bullpen workhorse

#7. Benjamin Bolden-20^th-NY Gangsters-Another player drafted by 1 team but did his damage with another.  He started some games at 1^st but is almost better suited as a DH/PH.  11 homers in less then 200 at bats and a solid .266/333/472 Slash line. Good bench bat

#6. Brian Priest-15th-Vancouver- Almost reaching 200 innings Priest was a key part of Vancouvers rotation posting a 12-11 record and 137 k’s. A tail end rotation piece

#5. John Bonine-32^nd-Seattle- The Kraken grabbed another solid defensive player. Bonine can also run like the wind racking up 31 steals this year. He played a very solid 3^rd base this season but might be better off at 2^nd going forward

#4. Charles Witt-33^rd-Vancouver-A solid surprising season from Witt. Played a solid RF and handled 3^rd from time to time. 30 extra base hits and a very good slash of 281/344/423.  Most likely another bench piece

#3. Juan Ciriaco-14^th-Jackson- Probably better suited to play 1^st base, but his bat doesn’t match up well there. His 40 steals and 305 avg and 379 OBP play well at the top or bottom of almost all orders

#2-Elston Crudale-21^st-Burlington- Another Burlington arm Crudale had a great run this year. 11-5 with a 3.26 ERA. It will be interesting to see if he can do it again as he is very wild but has great stuff

#1. Greg Hinch-2^nd NL-the surprise player of the draft, Hinch was coming off a 20 homer .283 AVG but left unprotected. He followed it up with 36 homer-34 steal season. He played 3^rd very well this season but can handle 2^nd or shift to a corner OF if needed