Everything to know about Wednesday's Rule 5 Draft

December 8th, 2025

It's that time of year again. It's time for Rule 5.

There is nothing else in baseball quite like the Rule 5 Draft, traditionally the final number of the annual Winter Meetings. Every year, Rule 5 sounds the closing bell on the Winter Meetings by providing big league opportunities for a few players who may not have gotten them so immediately otherwise.

This year's version will take place in Orlando, Fla., at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday -- streaming live on MLB.com -- once again giving teams the chance to bolster their rosters and snag low-risk talent to help them in the season to come.

Rule 5 Draft, Wednesday, 2 p.m. ET
• Preview | 12 prospects to watch for
• 30 Rule 5 candidates -- 1 from each club
• Most recent keepers | Best picks of past decade
• Past results | A history of the Rule 5 Draft

Unlike the amateur Draft (Rule 4), whose first-round order is now determined in part by a lottery, the Rule 5 Draft order remains dictated by the reverse order of last season’s standings. So the Rockies, who had the worst record in baseball in 2025, have the first pick, followed by the White Sox, Nationals, Twins and Pirates. Teams that finished with identical records in 2025 have their spots based on win-loss records from the previous season.

The Draft order

Below is the draft order, along with each club's 2025 record and current 40-man roster status. A team must have room on its 40-man in order to make a selection.

  1. Rockies, 43-119 (37)
  2. White Sox, 60-102 (35)
  3. Nationals, 66-96 (37)
  4. Twins, 70-92 (40)
  5. Pirates, 71-91 (39)
  6. Angels, 72-90 (35)
  7. Orioles, 75-87 (40)
  8. Athletics, 76-86 (39)
  9. Braves, 76-86 (40)
  10. Rays, 77-85 (40)
  11. Cardinals, 78-84 (39)
  12. Marlins, 79-83 (39)
  13. D-backs, 80-82 (40)
  14. Rangers, 81-81 (34)
  15. Giants, 81-81 (39)
  16. Royals, 82-80 (38)
  17. Reds, 83-79 (39)
  18. Mets, 83-79 (39)
  19. Tigers, 87-75 (39)
  20. Astros, 87-75 (39)
  21. Guardians, 88-74 (38)
  22. Red Sox, 89-73 (39)
  23. Mariners, 90-72 (38)
  24. Padres, 90-72 (36)
  25. Cubs, 92-70 (31)
  26. Dodgers, 93-69 (38)
  27. Blue Jays, 94-68 (37)
  28. Yankees, 94-68 (35)
  29. Phillies, 96-66 (32)
  30. Brewers, 97-65 (39)

These are the Rule 5 player qualifications:

Players who turned pro at age 18 or younger in 2021 or at age 19 or older in 2022 are eligible for selection in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft if he isn't on a 40-man roster.

Clubs which take a player in that phase must pay his former team $100,000 and keep him on their active big league roster throughout the following season. The player can't be sent to the Minors without first clearing waivers and then getting offered back to his original organization for half his Draft price.

There is also a Minor League phase of the Rule 5 Draft. Anyone not protected on a big league or Triple-A roster is eligible, with the cost of selection $24,000. Players selected in this phase of the Rule 5 Draft aren’t subject to any roster restrictions with their new organizations.

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Recent successes
Fifteen players were taken in last year’s Major League Rule 5 Draft, with three sticking with their organizations through the entire 2025 season: Shane Smith (White Sox), Liam Hicks (Marlins) and Angel Bastardo (Blue Jays).

Since 2012, seven Rule 5 selections have gone on to amass 5.0 or more career bWAR: Mark Canha (14.6), Odúbel Herrera (13.3), Brad Keller (10.3), Anthony Santander (10.3), Ryan Pressly (9.5), Garrett Whitlock (8.2) and Delino DeShields (5.1).

All-time best picks
Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente remains the slam-dunk best player ever selected in the Rule 5 Draft. But given the significant changes made to the Draft over time, it’s difficult to compare selections across eras.

If we set the cutoff for a more modern era at 1990, here are the top six Rule 5 selections ranked by career WAR:

  1. Johan Santana, LHP (51.7)
  2. Shane Victorino, OF (31.4)
  3. Josh Hamilton, OF (28.1)
  4. Joakim Soria, RHP (18.6)
  5. Dan Uggla, 2B (18.4)

This list only includes Rule 5 selections who stuck with their new teams. But if we were to include all players ever selected, it would add some more notable names, especially of recent players such as José Bautista, R.A. Dickey and Ender Inciarte. As it is, Soria is the player on this list who played the most recently, the longtime reliever finishing his 14-year career with stints with the D-backs and Blue Jays in 2021. Canha is closest among active players who stuck with a 14.6 bWAR.

Top available prospects
There are always a bunch of Top 30 prospects left unprotected by their clubs, and this year is no different, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be scooped up in the Rule 5 Draft. Selecting teams need to weigh talent and proximity to the big leagues when assessing Rule 5 candidates, as those players would ideally have the best chance of sticking on a big league roster through all of the following season.

Some of the names generating early Rule 5 buzz are Blue Jays outfielder Yohendrick Pinango (No. 7), Braves right-hander Blake Burkhalter (No. 11), Red Sox righty Yordanny Monegro (No. 26), Marlins righty Zach McCambley (unranked), Angels hurlers Samy Natera Jr. (No. 20) and Jared Southard (unranked), and Yankees reliever Harrison Cohen (No. 30).