Baltimore Orioles All-Time Best Rule 5 Draft Picks
By Ben Palmer
As most fans know, the Baltimore Orioles love the Rule 5 Draft, but rarely does it ever produce a superstar player. Here are the five best Rule 5 Draft picks in Orioles history.
The Rule 5 Draft rarely ever gets any press, but Baltimore Orioles fans know how much GM Dan Duquette loves it, and the team has had some decent success in the Rule 5 Draft.
If you’re unfamiliar with how the Rule 5 Draft works, it’s relatively simple: teams draft players from other teams, provided those players are not currently on the 40-man roster. Those players that are drafted are then added to the drafting team’s 40-man roster.
Once the season starts, the players chosen must be on the selecting team’s 25-man roster for the entire season and may not be optioned or designated to the minors.
They can, however, be placed on waivers, and if they clear waivers, they are immediately offered to the team they came from in the Rule 5 Draft. If a player spends an entire season on a 25-man roster, his status is returned to normal after the season ends.
Because of how the Rule 5 Draft is set up, players drafted in it are rarely superstars. At best, the team drafting gets a role player and at worst, a total bust that clogs up a roster spot.
On occasion however, the Rule 5 Draft produces some useful players. Here are the five best Rule 5 Draft picks in Baltimore Orioles history.