Marlins Rule 5 Draft: Six players added to the organization

The Miami Marlins spent the final day of the Winter Meetings engrossed in MLB’s annual Rule 5 draft, and came away with a goody bag of prospects for their efforts.

The team nabbed two players in the major league portion of the draft and four in the Triple-A phase, the six combining to be the most players any team collected in the entire process. Here’s a quick recap of the names:

Elieser Hernandez

The Marlins first round pick and 10th overall, Hernandez is a 22-year-old right hander snagged from the World Champion Houston Astros organization. He went 4-5 with a 3.98 ERA in 15 games (11 starts) with the High-A Buie Creek Astros. He throws strikes (low 90’s fastball) and mixes his pitches well. John Sickels of Minor League ball believes his stuff will play up in a permanent move to the pen, but the rotation starved Marlins may see him as a starting prospect for now.

Brett Graves

In the second round with the 17th pick, the Marlins selected 24-year-old righty Brett Graves from the Oakland Athletics. He is described as having a mid-90’s fastball with a “plus slider,” but has not seen the accompanying results one would expect with his stuff (a 5.97 ERA in seven games with the AA Midland Rockhounds). Starting much of last year, he might ultimately end up in the pen.

Triple-A selections

Courtesy Tim Healey/Sun Sentinel:

The Marlins also picked four players in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft: catcher B.J. Lopez (Diamondbacks), catcher Sharif Othman (Yankees), first baseman Will Allen III (Tigers) and right-hander Brandon Barker (Orioles).

Othman in particular might strike a familiar chord with you:

The Marlins did end up losing two players in the draft: Reliever Tyler Kinley went to the Twins in the major league phase, and reliever Carlos Diaz was gobbled up by the Athletics, undoubtedly in swift and vindictive retribution for the Marlins’ earlier poaching of Graves.

Now that the Winter Meetings are over, I’m sure we’ll be settling in for a long quiet period where the team will make no further moves and we’re left with nothing to do but speculate on the future.

Or not.