Decided to look back at the Rule Five Draft from 20 seasons ago to see which teams got some steals in the draft.
10. LeslieHerndon (Salem-auggieward) Salem made a few smart picks in this draft. Taken 12th
overall Herdon wasn’t all that dazzling but did finish off his career with back
two back 60 appearance seasons
9. Artie Sipp (Fresno/Boise-hofstad) The first of two Fresno
picks to make the top 10. Sipp played on 2 World Series winning teams. Best
season as a platoon he hit 12 homers and .317 in just over 200 at bats
8. AdysCano (Syracuse-Hatton98) Workhorse bullpen arm taken 2nd overall.
Won 76 games in his career while winning over 11 in a season 3 times. Best
season out of the pen came when he pitched 96 innings with a 3.08 ERA
7. Antone Prince (Fresno/Boise-hofstad) Nice late pick by Fresno
as Prince was the 16th player taken. Saved 35 games one year and had
7 seasons in which he made more then 50 appearances. Career 4.29 ERA was not
great.
6. ChasenSullivan (Omaha/Sacramento-dadaniel1) The first of two Omaha picks that make the
top ten, Chasen was a sturdy hitting Catcher, 4 seasons with over 10 homers in
a part time role. Also topped an 800 OPS two times.
5. JohnniePalmer (Kansas City/Montreal-urbanwarrior) Short
career (571 Games) but won a WS and had a career year when he hit 270 with 12
homers 10 steals and a 270 AVG.
4. JohnCrede (Indiapolis-egide10) Solid all around player, played SS well enough to
make 79+ plays, also hit double digit homers twice in his career. Not a game changer by any means but carved
out a solid career of over 1450 games
3. Ron Moss
(Omaha/Sacramento-dadaniel1) The second last player taken in the draft. Moss
made an All Star game in season 28 when he scored 121 runs while stealing 49
bases. Made 61 + plays in CF for his career. A great pick that late in the draft
2. ChadTatum (Houston-Andyr104) Picked 5th
overall Tatum was a tremendous fielder (143 Plus plays between SS and CF)
winning Gold Gloves at both positions. Finished his career with over 1600 games
and 178 steals.
1.WillieCairo (Salem-auggieward) Taken 1st overall in the Rule 5 draft Cairo
was just short of a superstar closer. He pitched in over 1000 games while
picking up 331 saves. Was a 3 time All-Star and racked up over 30 saves 6
times. Carried some pens while also pitching over 100 innings in 6 different
years.