MLB Rule 5 Draft 2019 Results: Team-by-Team Breakdown

The final day of Major League Baseball's winter meetings includes the annual Rule 5 draft, which gives teams an opportunity to add talent from other organizations. 

Any team with an opening on its 40-man roster is eligible to make at least one selection. The talent pool is determined by players in the minors who spent either four seasons in professional baseball after signing at age 19 or older or spent five seasons in pro ball after signing at 18 or younger (as of June 5 from the year they signed).

Players who are selected join their new team's 40-man roster immediately. They will go onto the 25-man roster or injured list for the duration of the regular season; otherwise, the player gets offered back to his former team for $50,000. 

Here are the results from Thursday's Rule 5 draft from San Diego, via MLB.com.

2019 Rule 5 Draft Results

Round 1

1. Detroit Tigers: Rony Garcia, RHP (Selected from New York Yankees)

2. Baltimore Orioles: Brandon Bailey, RHP (Selected from Houston Astros)

3. Miami Marlins: Sterling Sharp, RHP (Selected from Washington Nationals)

4. Kansas City Royals: Stephen Woods Jr., RHP (Selected from Tampa Bay Rays)

5. Seattle Mariners: Yohan Ramirez, RHP (Selected from Houston Astros)

6. Cincinnati Reds: Mark Payton, OF (Selected from Oakland Athletics)

7. San Francisco Giants: Danny Jimenez, RHP (Selected from Toronto Blue Jays)

8. Philadelphia Phillies: Vimael Machin, SS (Selected from Chicago Cubs)

9. Chicago Cubs: Trevor Megill, RHP (Selected from San Diego Padres)

10. Boston Red Sox: Jonathan Arauz, SS (Selected from Houston Astros)

Round 2

11. Baltimore Orioles: Michael Rucker, RHP (Selected from Chicago Cubs)

Top Picks 

Sterling Sharp to Miami Marlins

The Miami Marlins are still years from contending, so they need to use every opportunity to evaluate players who can contribute to their next cycle. Right-handed pitcher Sterling Sharp is a perfect example of the type of player they can allow to develop. 

MLB.com had Sharp ranked as the Washington Nationals' No. 13 prospect. The 24-year-old is coming off a solid season with a 3.53 ERA in 12 games across three levels. He missed two months in the middle of the year with an oblique injury. 

Per Baseball America's Josh Norris, Sharp had the third-best ground-ball rate (3.91) in the minors in 2019 and tinkered with his arsenal during an appearance in the Arizona Fall League: 

"It's not that his sinker has deserted him, but rather that he's spending his time in the AFL trying to increase his arsenal. His fastball and changeup are both dynamite, but both also move the same direction—in on righthanded hitters. Now he's adding a slider to give him something that will move away from righties."

Sharp needs to find a pitch that can get right-handed hitters out. He allowed a .356 average to them in 24 innings last season. 

In a worst-case scenario, the Marlins can try Sharp as a reliever who faces lefties. His talent and upside are worth the risk for a franchise that has lost 203 games over the past two seasons. 

Rony Garcia to Detroit Tigers

Everything about the Marlins also applies to the Detroit Tigers, though there are at least a couple of reasons to be excited about their short-term outlook with Casey Mize and Matt Manning potentially making their MLB debuts in 2020. 

The Tigers also have the first pick in the MLB draft for the second time in three years. They used the top choice in the Rule 5 draft to grab Rony Garcia from the New York Yankees.

It's not often a 21-year-old is available, but Garcia has been slow to progress since the Yankees signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 2016. He showed improvement last season, appearing in a career-high 25 games and striking out 129 in 130.1 innings across two levels. 

Last year was Garcia's first exposure to Double-A, so expecting him to jump into the big leagues is a stretch. But the Tigers aren't operating from a position of strength. Their relievers finished 24th in MLB with a 4.91 ERA last season.

As long as Garcia can consistently throw strikes⁠, the right-hander has enough velocity with his fastball to miss MLB bats. 

Brandon Bailey to Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles made use of their top pick in last year's Rule 5 draft by letting Richie Martin play shortstop every day in 2019. 

Martin struggled with a .581 OPS, but he got better with a .284/.321/.392 slash line in the second half. That's significant because, at 24 years old, maybe he can continue to get better and will at least provide a serviceable stopgap until Baltimore adds a better shortstop when its next wave of top prospects starts to debut. 

All of this is to suggest that Brandon Bailey may be going to a perfect situation for his development in 2020. The right-hander was a sixth-round pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2016 and has a 3.07 ERA with 405 strikeouts in 349 innings in the minors. 

The big knock against Bailey is size because he's listed at 5'10" and 175 pounds, per MiLB.com. He seems to be well aware of the way undersized pitchers are viewed, based on this tweet from January:

Bailey was arguably the best player available in this year's draft. 

The Orioles are in such desperate need for starting pitching that they can afford to let Bailey work through some of the natural issues that will come with being a rookie. Dylan Bundy, who led the team with 161.2 innings in 2019, was traded to the Los Angeles Angels. 

John Means is Baltimore's only returning starter who posted an ERA below 4.80 last season. Bailey could walk on to the Orioles and be one of their three best pitchers in 2020 if he can win a job during spring training.