Pitchers dominate Rule 5 draft, comprising 11 of 15 unprotected players picked in big league phase

AP Baseball Writer

DALLAS (AP) — Pitchers again dominated the big league phase of the Rule 5 draft at the winter meetings, comprising 11 of the 15 unprotected players who were picked Wednesday.

The 121-loss Chicago White Sox had the first pick and selected 24-year-old right-hander Shane Smith from the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Smith was an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest when he was signed by Milwaukee in July 2021. The 6-foot-4, 235-pounder has gone 13-7 with a 2.69 ERA and 203 strikeouts over 157 innings in 19 starts and 54 relief appearances over three minor league seasons.

There were 14 teams who made picks in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft of players left off 40-man rosters after several minor league seasons. Only Atlanta made two selections, after making none since 2017.

Atlanta chose right-hander Anderson Pilar from the Miami Marlins with the 11th pick, and then took infielder Christian Cairo from the Cleveland Guardians with the 15th and final pick in the MLB portion.

The 26-year-old Pilar was original signed by Colorado as a minor league free agent in 2015 and has pitched in 213 minor league games that included 17 starts. He is 28-20 with a 2.86 ERA.

Teams pay $100,000 to take a player in the major league portion. The players must stay on the big league roster all of next season or clear waivers and be offered back to their original organization for $50,000.

Six of the 10 players selected during the Rule 5 draft last December — five of them right-handed pitchers — remained last season with organization that selected them.

Right-hander Eiberson Castellano, the current minor league pitcher of the year in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, was taken Wednesday by Minnesota with the ninth selection. The 23-year-old Castellano split the season between High-A and Double-A, going 6-5 with a 3.99 ERA over 103 2/3 innings. He struck out 136 and walked 29.

The Phillies did get a right-hander with the 14th pick, the last of the first round, Mike Vasil from the New York Mets organization.

Two of the four position players taken by other teams came from the Detroit Tigers organization: catcher Liam Hicks and third baseman Gage Workman.

Miami drafted second after Colorado passed making a selection, and took Hicks. Workman was taken by the Chicago Cubs with the 10th pick.

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