This draft takes place in December during the GM meetings. As with the armature draft, the worst teams get to choose first. Teams must choose a player who isn't currently on a 40-man roster and the player must be 19 years or older and has spent four years with his previous club or 18 years or older and has spent five years with his current club. Once a player is selected in the Rule 5 draft, he must stay on that teams 40-man roster for the entire year. Teams who draft a Rule 5 player can trade that player to another team, but that team must play by the Rule 5 rules. Or a team can just send the player right back to their original team.
Sounds complicated but really the process isn't that hard to figure out.
Now there have been some great players selected in the Rule 5 Draft. Josh Hamilton was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds. Luckily for the Reds, Hamilton became sober and performed like the player the Rays thought they were going to get when they drafted Hamilton. Johan Santana was also a Rule 5 pick. Jose Bautista is also a recent example of a Rule 5 pick that was successful.
None of these picks though compare to the Pittsburgh Pirates Rule 5 selection back in the mid-50's. The Pirates selected Puerto Rico sensation Roberto Clemente out of the Brooklyn Dodgers organization. Now that's the ultimate Rule 5 pick.
Clemente would go on to a hall of fame career with the Pirates racking up gold gloves, 3,000 hits, and two championship rings. Clemente was also a world class guy, contributing time, money, and energy to charitable activities. Clemente tragically died in a airplane crash in 1972 when he was trying to deliver aid packages to the city of Managua, Nicaragua.
Roberto Clemente was the ultimate Rule 5 draft choice. There hasn't been a hall of fame player drafted in the Rule 5 draft since.
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