Rule Five Draft -- Final Roundup

Not long ago, we looked at some possible rule five draft picks who are veterans of the Alaska Baseball League. The draft has since come and gone, and I've taken a look at who was picked to see if any ABLers will be packing their bags for 2010. The following summarizes a few moves that should interest fans of the Alaska League.

Major League Phase:

There were no Alaska League alumni taken in the Major League phase of the rule-five draft, despite some seventeen players being picked overall. That's seventeen guys who were languishing in the minors, who MLB clubs felt were good enough to have a job on their opening day roster. That's a lot!

As already noted, however, there were two moves made by teams to keep eligible ex-ABLers from being snatched up by other clubs in the draft: Daniel Stange and Blake Wood. So, in a roundabout sort of way, these two Alaska League alumni are a step closer to breaking into the bigs because of the rule-five draft. I don't pretend to be an expert on these matters but I would think an MLB debut for these two in 2010 is fairly likely, even if only for a September call-up, since they are now on their Major League clubs' expanded roster.




AAA Phase:

The AAA phase did involve some ABL alumni. Unlike the Major League phase of the draft, players selected during the AAA (as well as the AA) portion are not required to play at that level; they're merely ranked as such. Because of this, the minor league phases are intended more to allow teams to pick up organizational filler (that is, players intended to fill a specific role on a minor league club that isn't covered by more promising prospects) than to move anyone up the ladder.

Regardless, I think the following players could have some sort of MLB future, and it's always nice to keep tabs on our boys, so we'll take a look at which ex-ABLers got shuffled around. We've got a pair of former Oilers to catch up on:


Brian Horwitz - OF - Oilers, 2001:

Horwitz, nicknamed "The Rabbi", played for the Oilers as well as the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod League. Brian has already had his first cup of coffee in the show with the Giants in 2008. He got a taste of the bigs that year when he was called up to replace an injured Dan Ortmeier. He hit .222 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs before being sent back to AAA Fresno.

Horwitz was picked up by Cleveland in the first round of the AAA phase. He moved up the ranks in the minor leagues extremely fast. Brian was playing AAA ball his first professional season; no doubt due in part to his high-level summer ball experience in the ABL and CCL. Along the way he picked up a pair of minor league batting titles. He seems to have hit the wall at AAA, though, and doesn't look to be a highly scouted prospect. This leads me to believe that the Giants saw him as a "AAAA" guy, the type of player you want to have around your minor league roster in case someone gets injured. Hopefully the move to the Indians' system will open up some new doors for Brian.


Matt Meyer - RP - Oilers, 2005:

While the Indians gained a prospect in Horwitz, they lost one to the Cardinals in Matt Meyer, another ex-Oiler out of Boston College. During his stay in Kenai he put up impressive numbers, striking out 32 over 29 and holding opposing batters to a paltry .168 average. Since being drafted by Cleveland in 2006, Matt has remained on their prospect radar, although if he breaks into the bigs it will likely be as a left-handed specialist considering he is far better at getting lefties out than righties. In any event, I wish Matt the best of luck and hope to see him on ESPN soon.


As always, if anyone has any insight or analysis on these players or moves, by all means, let's hear it! Leave me a comment to let me know what you think.


(Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/malias/ / CC BY 2.0 )