Looking at The Phillies in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft.

The only Phillies minor league player selected in the 2017 Rule 5 draft was outfielder Carlos Tocci.  He was taken by the Chicago White Sox. They sent him on to the Texas Rangers.   We wish him the best with his new team and hope he sticks with them.

In order to likely acquire even more Latin players, the Phillies reportedly traded their pick in the Rule 5 Draft for $500,ooo in international slot money from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A total of 61 players changed teams in the two phases of the Rule 5 draft. Tocci was the only then current Phillies player among them.

In last year’s Rule 5 Draft the Phillies did not participate because they had so much talent that they had a full 40-man roster going into the Draft.

Last year when the Cleveland Indians took lefty reliever Hoby Milner only to return him after he failed to make the Tribe at the end of Spring Training.  This year the Phillies have wisely added the talented Milner to the 40-man roster after pitching well for them last season in his major league debut.

The Phillies had a few players not protected this year that I would have taken a second look at them to see if they could contribute to another team but they were not taken.

Pitchers

1. This guy is not an over powering lefty. Reminds me of a Jamie Moyer type.  Has the best pick-off move to first in the minor leagues.  Went 11-5 last season split between Reading and Lehigh Valley. He will turn 25-years old on Wednesday.
2. A tall 6’3″ starting pitcher who has never pitched above AA.  Watched him pitch for the Threshers in 2016 where he went 6-2 in nine starts striking out better than one an inning. A workhorse who has made 51 starts pitching 283.1 innings, going 20-18 in the last two seasons for Clearwater and Reading.
3. A big 6’4 power lefty out of the pen.  Watched him pitch in the low to mid 90’s at Clearwater last year where he went 2-0 striking out better than a batter an inning.  At Reading he gave up only one earned run to left-handed hitters to pitch to a 0.61 ERA against them.  The 24-year-old would make a great LOOGY out of a major league pen for some other MLB team.

Hitters

1. This guy came into his own late last month in the Arizona Fall League.  A corner infielder, he went 7 for 13 with three doubles and a homer in his final three AFL games.  He has had problems with injuries but now he has said he is fully healthy. He turns 24 in March.  Watch out for him in 2018.
2. This guy was a quarterback in high school but turned down college offers to sign with the Phillies.  He finished strong hitting .314 in August for Reading as he came into his own.  He turns only 23-years-old on January 2nd.
3. A native of Aruba, he hit an amazing .354 for 1.033 OPS against left-handed pitching for Reading in 2017. He has power, hitting 18 homers last year and a total of 38 long balls combined in his last two seasons.  He can run stealing 24 bases over the last two years.  He can throw playing all three outfield positions where he has had 10 assists combined from 2016 and 2017.  That’s shows he is toolsy who can hit, hit with power run, throw and field but apparently not for the Phillies.

If you said Pitchers 1) Brandon Leibrandt, 2) Tyler Viza, 3) Austin Davis and hitters 1) Zach Green, 2) Cord Sandberg, 3) Jiandido Tromp, you know the Phillies minor league system but no other major league organization was impressed enough to take them in Rule 5.

Austin Davis

Watch an Austin Davis 95 mph fastball paint the black on the outside corner of the plate  for a called strikeout HERE.