Upperdeck Season 26 Rule 5 Draft Recap

 

Here is the breakdown of season 26 Rule 5 Draft, including rankings based on players performance after the 1^st season of the draft.

Rankings After 1^st Season of Draft

10. JD Paul   9. Damaso Benitez  8. Phillip Knotts   7. Yadier Eusebio   6. Juancito Fernandez   5. Kelly Mariot   4. Miguel Nesbitt   3. Khris Hudson    2.  Joe O’Shea    1. Max Gonzalez

Rankings after 20 Seasons

10. Damaso Benitez-C  The 23^rd player taken is one of many that was selected by the now Sacramento franchise. Had his best season right after the draft smacking 16 long balls in 252 AB’s. Was an okay defender for his career catching 25% of runners and having a 4.58 CERA. Was ranked 9^th after his first season in the bigs.

9. Jesse Campbell-3^rd Another Sacramento pick, this time the 19^th player selected. Campbell was unranked after the first year and honestly while he didn’t get a lot better after that season. He was a solid defender at 3^rd (23+ plays) and hit about as well as you would expect from a 25^th man on the roster

8. Joe O’Shea-SU Way up at #6 was O’Shea, and after a solid rookie season he was ranked 2^nd among Rule 5 draft picks. He had a 1.20 WHIP and 3.72 ERA in his first season and followed that up with a solid sophomore season and a 3.80 ERA over 45 IP.  He only played one more season in the majors.

7. Juancito Fernandez-SU Drafted 11^th Juancito was 6^th after 1 season and stayed pretty much there 20 years later. He won 18 games in his three seasons all out of the pen. While his ERA was 4.60 for his career he did pitch about 70 innings a year which is pretty solid for a Rule 5 player

6. Kelly Mariot –C  Taken 4^th, Kelly moved up after his first season mostly due to his strong defensive work behind the plate.  He threw out 38% of runners for his career and also added a bit of pop with the bat. 3X he hit over 10 homers finishing with 60 in his career to go with 85 doubles

5. Khris Hudson-RF  Number 3 after 1 season, Khris was taken 30^th overall. Was a powerful free swinger who hit 31 homers in his rookie year and twice more would top 30 and 2 more times 20. He would also strike out…a lot, Including 185 in his rookie year. A bad Right fielder but a solid 1^st baseman

4. Kenny Howard-SS  He was unranked after his 1^st season that was only 105 AB’s. Blew up after that hitting 20 Homers in ’27  and 6 other times would hit double digits.  His main value was from his glove though where he made 54+ plays at SS for his career and 27 more at his other defensive positions.

3. Miguel Nesbitt-LR From the pen to the rotation, Nesbitt was a solid innings eater who had some pretty good seasons. Went 8-8 in 24 starts with a 3.80 ERA in ’31. Finished his career with 1300 innings and almost 900K’s

2. Wilton Brown-2^nd/LF  Taken 3^rd, another Sacramento player, Brown, just missed out on the top 10 from the draft year but did manage to climb his way almost all the way to the top by the end. He hit 303 Homers and finished with an OPS just under 800.  Had a borderline MVP season in ’33 when he hit 41 homers and drove in 123 runs.

1. Max Gonzalez-CF, drafted 1^st, the best player after 1 season and by far the best after 20 years. Good for about 50 steals a season that helped lead to about 100 Runs scored a season. Not a great batting average kind of guy, could hit double digits in homers. Aside from the top flight speed was also a dynamic fielder making 111+ plays in CF for his career.