Rule 5 Draft

Other Stuff

Here are the results from today’s Rule 5 Drafts.  This article will be open for comments about the draft.  The Phillies discussion remains open for all other comments.

MLB Portion

Griff McGarry was the third selection of the draft by the Washington Nationals.

We all know of McGarry’s control problems.  His 5.3 BB/9 last season (across 3 levels) was his best since a 5.2 his first season in the organization and a huge improvement over the 10.2 in 2024.

The Phillies selected Zach McCambley a RHP from the Miami Marlins AAA roster.

McCambley has recorded 9 or more strikeouts per 9 innings at every stop during his career.  More importantly, he improved to 3.2 walks per 9 innings (3.3 at AAA).

MiLB Portion

Phillies had 4 openings on their Triple-A roster.

Seattle Mariners selected C/1B Carson Taylor from the Phillies Double-A roster.

Taylor spent most of the season (from May 16th thru the end) on the Full Season IL.

Phillies select OF Austin Murr from the Detroit Tigers Double-A roster.

Murr played the bulk of his 83 games at Advanced-A last season where he hit .280/.838 with 41 BB and 62 K in 309 PA.  He was overmatched in 11 Triple-A games.

Phillies select RHP Evan Gates from the San Francisco Giants Double-A roster.

Gates walk rate rose at each level until he reached Triple-A and it stabilized at 3.6 BB/9.  Unfortunately, his double-digit K-rate dipped to 8.2 K/9 there too.

Both McCambley and Gates are relievers.

All 3 additions to the org appear to have all three of their options in place.

33 thoughts on “Rule 5 Draft”

    1. Word Press strikes again!

      As i was saying – I believe McCambley is a Penn Charter kid, local. He must be thrilled.. unless he was a Yankees fan somehow. Pretty nice slider.

      Like

    1. I had a feeling McGarry put it together this year…. But many thought that last year. He did start to come on when everyone seemed to have given up/forgotten about him. Will see. Hopefully he’s wild when he faces the Phillies. Thought he could be the “surprise” this year. That or Painter drops down to a late inning reliever and Wood leap frogs into the SR. Let’s hope that one doesn’t happen.

      Like

      1. Phillies are not the Braves…….Wood will be brought along slow and gradual…see him starting at CLW early on, then a move to JS and finally to end the season just maybe at Reading in Sept. for a few starts. Phillies seem to like to nurture their starting pitching prospects thru the system trying to avoid rushing them and also trying to avoid injuries.

        Like

        1. Now as I say that about Wood, the outlier was probably Aaron Nola….drafted in June 2014 and MLB debut July 2015. But that was a different management regime…..hah, John Middleton may be the only one left from that baseball operation chain of command.

          Like

          1. I’d rather they utilize wood out of the pen then view him as a starter and potentially waste away 2 years of his arm.. if he is dealing bring him around if at all possible.. can ramp up his innings/starter in year 3/4 etc.. got to start thinking outside the box with some of the young guys to get them in the action before the window is slammed shut

            Like

            1. The Phillies will not do this. Wood’s best value is as a starter and that’s where he will start unless he shows that he can’t hack it. The Phillies will have need for cheap starters since Luzardo and Walker are FA’s after the 2026 season, and Wheeler after 2027.

              Like

            2. While I also agree that his highest and best use, long term, is as a starter, I could a situation where Wood’s high and best use to this team, short term, would be as a reliever. I really don’t think using him like that would necessarily be bad thing for his long term development, but I agree the Phillies will be reluctant to do this.

              Like

    1. In the MLB portion of the 2025 Rule 5 draft, 11 of the 13 players selected were pitchers. For the life of me, I don’t understand why the Phils didn’t protect McGarry and Reyes. But the Phils might have anticipated that Reyes lacked the versatility/skill set to be carried on an MLB roster for a season. So he (Reyes) would likely not be lost.

      McGarry is further testimony to the Phils’ lackluster history of developing pitching, including starting pitching. He’s no sure shot to last with the Nats for the season. But the Phils, with their lack of starting pitching depth on the farm. allowing McGarry to leave for no real return I see as a blunder. It’s not like roster spots on the 40-man were tight

      McGarry is 26, which works against him. This is the second year in a row the Phils’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year was lost on the Rule 5.

      Like

      1. Flea c’mon man…..McGarry is further testimony to the Phils’ lackluster history of developing pitching, including starting pitching.

        You must be frustrated to say that……,Phillies are no different than virtually many other teams in the majors in that respect. But last years staff alone had Nola, Ranger and Sanchez that came up from their minor league system.

        Now there are small market teams that are forced to develop pitchers….then just lose them in their mid -to- late 20s to large market teams in free agency or forced to trade them a year before free agency since they cannot meet their salary demands, ie Pirates for one.

        I think they develop starters just as well as any other team.

        Like

        1. Romus,I don’t know how old you are and, in a way, it doesn’t matter. For fun, make a list of the top 10 homegrown Phillies starting pitchers since you first started following the team. Don’t include Curt schilling or Christopher Sanchez or guys that improved while in the organization. Just the guys the scouts scouted, the team signed and the player development guys developed. Add up their career WAR. Then I’ll try and see if there is any team — even the Rockies — which has less to show for their comparable efforts. There might be 3 worse teams, maybe 4. But it’s not a record to brag about. I go back to the Robin Roberts era and, for my money, they haven’t ever matched him.

          Like

          1. I only have 2 Hamels and Nola. I’m older than that but those are the only real standouts. I don’t know about guys like Dick Ruthven or Larry Christianson and Lefty would fall into the category of “traded for”

            Like

          2. In partial defense of the Phillies, matching Robin Roberts would be tough to do. He is in the top 17 or 18 of all pitchers in terms of lifetime WAR – including pitchers from the dead ball era, like Kid Nichols (there’s a name you don’t hear every day!). But I get your point. The Phillies were dreadful on this from the 70s through the Cole Hamels era, but have been better over the last 20 years or so, but still nowhere close to elite. Sadly their recent track record in developing pitching towers as a shining example compared to their history of developing outfielders. The last elite outfielder (even for a moderate period of time), the team signed/drafted and developed was Juan freaking Samuel over 40 years ago. How is that even possible? The dart board method of picking players likely would have yielded better results – it could hardly have been any worse. As odd as it sounds, if Justin Crawford turns out to be okay (3 WAR player), he will probably be our best signed/developed outfielder since at least Pat Burrell, which is staggering.

            Like

          3. Flea…..lets not go back to the Roberts/Simmons and even the Chris Short days….the game does go thru changes thru different eras……lets just say the .last 20 years beginning with Hamels/Myers thru last years staff. Just between Hamels/Myers/Nola /Ranger and Sanchez….of the five, you have a collective WAR of 140 over a total of 51 years of service. With Hamels and Myers hanging on in their later years as their WAR dropped.

            Now you can counter with the Tigers with Verlander and Scherzer, but what did they ever do as Tigers!

            The Dodgers came on with Kershaw, but guys like Buehler, Gosselin, May et al were just very good 2 thru 4s with Buehler having his spurt.

            My point, I do not see any difference between the Phillies development acumen of SP vs many other MLB teams.

            Like

            2. You can pick the time period and the metric you like, the Phils don’t fare well. All Star team selections. Top 10 in league Cy Young Award voting. You have a generation of scouts between the Roberts/Simmons/Sanford/Jenkins era and the Hamels era who produced next to nothing.

              The A’s had an era with Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Blue Moon Odom, and Ken Holtzman. The Mets had an era with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan, Gary Gentry. The Orioles with Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Pat Dobson, later Mike Mussina, Ben McDonald. The Dodgers with Orel Herchiser, Don Sutton, Fernando Valenzuela, later Clayton Kershaw. And the Tigers, Cardinals, and others.

              “My point, I do not see any difference between the Phillies development acumen of SP vs many other MLB teams.”

              Really?

              Like

          4. I’ll play this game and I’ll start when I became a Phillies fan, in the late-80s. I’m assuming that includes WAR that was accumulated after they left the Phillies?

            Cole Hamels

            Aaron Nola

            Randy Wolf

            Ranger Suarez

            J.A. Happ

            Kevin Gross (don’t really remember him at all)

            Brett Myers

            Ryan Madson

            Gavin Floyd

            Hector Neris (At this point, I was running on fumes)

            In general, most teams will have at least 1 big pitcher that has most of the WAR. Finding 10, that’s a hard exercise.

            The Rockies have Ubaldo Jimenez, Jhoulys Chacin, Jon Gray, who else?

            Like

          5. Fergie Jenkins and Rick Wise come to mind for the older guys. I go back to the late 80’s and you got guys like Bob Walk, Kevin Gross, Randy Wolf, Gavin Floyd, Brett Myers, Adam Eaton, Kyle Kendrick, and JA Happ who had really nice careers. Don’t know why we can’t include guys like Tommy Green (would’ve been a really good pitcher if he didn’t get hurt) and Schilling who developed with the phillies.

            Since about 2014 I believe the phillies have drafted 20-30 pitchers that made the majors and most are still playing. Just my 2 cents.

            Like

      2. You could argue that Eiberson Castellano was way more polished than McGarry when he got selected in the rule 5 draft. He couldn’t make the team out of ST (he walked a boatload of guys) for the Twins, had to clear waivers, and then was offered back to the Phillies. Castellano recently signed a minor league deal with the Rockies. Good luck to him.

        If McGarry can’t control his walks in ST, he’s not making the Nats opening day roster..

        Like

        1. I’d say there’s at least a 60 percent or greater chance that McGarry is offered back to the Phillies at some point this year.

          Like

    2. Felix Reyes wasn’t selected because he would have to be carried on the active roster. Teams have just 4 spots available on the bench for non-starters and one has to be the backup catcher. Another is usually a utility infielder who can play SS and one or two other positions. A third usually goes to an outfielder who can at least stand in CF if the starting corner outfielders can’t. Felix is defensively limited to a corner outfield position or first base. Pinch-hitting has virtually disappeared with the DH. He also has only played 6 games above Double-A. There’s just no room on a major league bench for a guy who isn’t ready to face big league pitching.

      Liked by 3 people

  4. You could blame the Phillies farm system for not developing pitching, but the plain fact is because of draft order.

    By the time they get to pick it’s 27th or 28th, a lot of good talent is gone off the board by then. Plus they are penalized when they sign free agents, by loss of draft picks. So their a victim of their own successes.

    There are no Paul Skenes or Turek Skubels left when they pick.

    Like

    1. That is true but that also means 29 other teams made the same mistake. And you can’t rely on getting an elite pitcher that late in the draft. There’s a reason why most elite pitchers are drafted early. Most teams will go decades before getting that lucky.

      Like

      1. I sure hope Painter is lives up to elite status, but you never know. In the meantime the Phillies have done a decent job of picking other teams pockets as in Wheeler, Sanchez, and Luzardo.

        Like

        1. The Phillies got lucky. When Wheeler hit FA, it seemed like he wasn’t able to recover his prospect form after TJ. Sanchez’s rise came out of nowhere. Luzardo was talented but heavily injured during his career.

          I don’t think anybody thought that Aaron Nola was going to deliver 34.9 WAR in his career when he got drafted.

          The Phillies will give Painter a very long leash for him to get back to his pre-TJ numbers.

          Like

Comments are closed.