2020 Rule 5 Draft (Pirates select Jose Soriano, Angels select Jose Rivera)

[Warfarin]

So, Jose Rivera must stay on the roster all year or be returned back to the Astros.  Obviously a bullpen candidate for now.

[totdprods]

9 minutes ago, Trendon said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the Angels got raided today. Soriano has already been taken, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Rojas and Naughton get picked.

Angels have six spots on 40 so they might do some raiding of their own. Could be a good way to get a backup catcher for first few weeks while Stassi gets up to speed.

Edited December 10, 2020 by totdprods

[Second Base]

EXTREMELY disappointed about Jose Soriano. It's no coincidence the Angels fail to protect him and he gets picked first in the draft. It was totally stupid not to protect him.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Second Base

[Warfarin]

Per MLB pipeline, re: Rivera:

Quote

The Astros have excelled at finding older pitchers on the international market and helping them find more velocity. Another example is Rivera, who was 19 years and seven months old when he signed for $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic in October 2016. His fastball made a huge jump in 2019 while he averaged 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings in his full-season debut.

Rivera's four-seam fastball sat at 89-93 mph during his U.S. debut in 2018 before rising to 94-98 and topping out at 100 last year. His secondary pitches have been slower to develop, though his mid-80s changeup with splitter action shows some glimpse of becoming at least a solid offering. His slider has similar velocity and stands out more for its power than its bite.

Rivera is yet another Houston pitching prospect who has been developed as a hybrid starter but is likely to end up as a multi-inning reliever. His effortful delivery and long arm action are better suited for shorter stints and compromise his ability to control and command his pitches. He'll be 23 this season, so the Astros may start to accelerate his development.

 

[Chuck]

Wow, first Gerado Reyes and now Rivera. 

Here's some info from Baseball America on our new relief prospect. 

[Chuck]

1 minute ago, Second Base said:

EXTREMELY disappointed about Jose Soriano. It's no coincidence the Angels fail to protect him and he gets picked first in the draft. It was today out stupid not to protect him.

Yeah that sucks. Oh well. 

[Warfarin]

Angels pass in round 2

[Chuck]

4 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Angels have six spots on 40 so they might do some raiding of their own. Could be a good way to get a backup catcher for first few weeks while Stassi gets up to speed.

They passed in the 2nd round of the Rule-5 draft. 

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

They passed in the 2nd round of the Rule-5 draft. 

Not following it in real-time...did not know.

[Chuck]

 

[BTH]

There is always a chance that the player a team picks ends up getting traded to another team, as they had a deal worked out before.

I wonder if there's a chance that the Angels selected Jose Rivera for the Reds as the PTBNL. Very low chance, but just a thought. Also possible that they picked him for some other team and will trade him. We will see.

[Warfarin]

It'll be interesting to see if Rivera stays with us.  It seems the majority of rule 5 picks get returned.  Rivera will obviously start off as the last guy out of the pen, given he hasn't even pitched above A-ball.  He definitely holds promise, though.

[Chuck]

The Angels have a chance to have three high octane relievers in Gerado Reyes, Jose Rivera and (LHP) Hector Yan to bolster the pen in 2021 in addition to Raisel Iglesias & Mike Mayers called upon late in the game. 

[mmc]

 

[Capital_Dave]

Just curious... can anyone explain why Soriano had been in our system for four seasons and never rose about High-A?  I've heard good things about him on this board, and his surface stats look terrific.  Weird that he wasn't more aggressively promoted.  Were there makeup problems or other intangibles holding him back?

[Angels in 2030]

Maybe a stupid question, but why would we leave such a valuable prospect (SP one at that) off the 40 man protection list when we only had 34 or so on the list?!?  I understand if we were at 38-40, but with 5-6 open spots, leaving him off seems bizarre....or just idiotic.  Maybe there's a valid reason for it that i'm not aware of and i'm over simplifying things.

[mmc]

 

[Angelsjunky]

2 minutes ago, Capital_Dave said:

Just curious... can anyone explain why Soriano had been in our system for four seasons and never rose about High-A?  I've heard good things about him on this board, and his surface stats look terrific.  Weird that he wasn't more aggressively promoted.  Were there makeup problems or other intangibles holding him back?

He's been injured for awhile, I believe TJS after 2019. Otherwise his rise is pretty normal. He stalled out a bit in his first call-up to A ball (2018), but then did very well in 2019.

This is a bummer. He's right there with Yan in our second tier of pitching prospects, behind only Rodriguez, Detmers, and Kochanowicz. At the least, he's going to make a very good reliever. I don't think he's ready for the Show in 2021, though, so hopefully he'll be returned.

[Warfarin]

4 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

He's been injured for awhile, I believe TJS after 2019. Otherwise his rise is pretty normal. He stalled out a bit in his first call-up to A ball (2018), but then did very well in 2019.

This is a bummer. He's right there with Yan in our second tier of pitching prospects, behind only Rodriguez, Detmers, and Kochanowicz. At the least, he's going to make a very good reliever. I don't think he's ready for the Show in 2021, though, so hopefully he'll be returned.

They can probably stash him on the 60-man IL for half the season, have him rehab, then have him pitch for the last 2 months or so of the season, I imagine.

[Angels in 2030]

i guess if we don't hear about the PTBNL piece of the recent Reds trade, then we know it's a 2020 draftee.  Otherwise, we should hear today or soon now that the Rule 5 draft is over.  Soriano very well could have been the Reds guy (or maybe it's one of Maiten, etc.)

[mmc]

 

[Warfarin]

So the triple-A phase, I imagine that means these guys we picked have to stay in AAA all year, right?

[Hubs]

5 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

So the triple-A phase, I imagine that means these guys we picked have to stay in AAA all year, right?

Yes

[Warfarin]

Summary:

 

Rivera/Soriano in the MLB phase, the rest in the AAA phase.

[Second Base]

Unfortunate to lose Garrett Williams, but he was buried on the depth chart. Still, likely a solid make league swing starter or 5th starter, but the Angels have those in spades.