Baseball Reference Glossary

Rule 5 Draft

What is the Rule 5 Draft?

The Rule 5 Draft is a draft held annually during the MLB Winter Meetings. Unlike the main MLB Draft, in which teams draft non-professional players, the Rule 5 Draft involves players who are already in a major league system.

Specifically, players are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft if:

  • They are not on the MLB team’s 40-man roster
  • They have been in the minors for at least 4 years if signed after age 19
  • They have been in the minor leagues for at least 5 years if signed before age 19

Once the draft begins, major league teams may draft any eligible player. If a team drafts a player, they must pay his old organization $100,000 to acquire him. The drafted player must remain on the team’s 26-man active roster (or injury reserve) for the entire season. If the team wants to send him to the minors, they must first offer him back to his original team, who can reclaim the player for a $50,000 waiver fee.

How is the Rule 5 Draft used?

The Rule 5 Draft ensures that teams cannot horde players in their minor league system indefinitely. It also gives players another way to break onto a major league roster.

Rule 5 Draft Examples

The most famous player taken in the Rule 5 Draft is Roberto Clemente, who was drafted out of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ system by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955. More recent examples include Johan Santana, Dan Uggla, and José Bautista

Interesting Rule 5 Draft Stats

In lieu of the waiver fee, teams may sometimes return a player if they wish to keep the drafted player in their organization, but send him to the minors. If that happens, the transaction changes, after the fact, from a Rule 5 Draft pick into a standard trade.

In addition to major league teams, minor league teams may also participate in the Rule 5 Draft. AAA teams, for example, can pick a player from AA. In the minor league portion of the draft, there’s no rule about having to return the player to his original organization.

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