The Mariners Thursday selected left-handed pitcher David Rollins, a 24-year-old minor leaguer, from the Houston Astros in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Rollins was the 12th player taken. His addition makes full the club’s 40-man roster.
Rollins, 24, spent last season with AA Corpus Christi. He went 3-4 with a 3.81 ERA (33 ER, 78.0 IP) with 77 strikeouts in 27 appearances, including 12 starts.
In parts of four minor league seasons, Rollins is 23-16 with a 3.39 ERA (135 ER, 358.2 IP) with 343 strikeouts in 88 games, including 64 starts. During his minor league career, he has averaged 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Rollins was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays after being selected in the 24th round of the 2011 amateur draft out of San Jacinto College (Houston). The lefty was drafted twice by the Mariners, in the 23rd round in 2009 draft and in the 46th round in 2010.
Toronto traded Rollins to Houston as part of a 10-player trade that saw current Mariners left-hander J.A. Happ go from Houston to the Blue Jays.
A player selected via Rule 5 must be kept on the 25-man roster of the drafting team for the entirety of the following season, and the selected player must remain active (not on the disabled list) for a minimum of 90 days. If the player does not remain on the major league roster, he is offered back to the team from which he was selected.
8 Comments
Zuriencik has wanted David Rollins for years and finally got him. The M’s drafted Rollins in the 23rd round in 2009 and again in the 46th round in 2010 before Toronto (24th round) picked and signed him in 2011.
From what his stats tell me, Rollins is a 6’1″ lefty who’ll turn 25 this month who’s averaged 8.6 K and 2.8 BB per 9 innings (only 33 IP above AA). He’s been a starter but hasn’t eaten up a lot of innings over three-plus years. All in all, not a bad Rule V pick, just not one who’ll face higher expectations beyond filling a roster slot in Tacoma…the Rainiers need starters too.
Doesn’t a rule 5 player have to stay on the major league club?
It depends. If the player makes the big club out of spring training, the team has to keep him on the roster for the season. If he doesn’t, the claiming team has to offer him back to the club he was taken from for $25K (half the amount paid in the draft).
It’s pretty low-risk and there aren’t that many players taken who make a difference, although that’s how the Pirates got Roberto Clemente so you never know for sure.
I don’t know why Seattle had to sign a veteran pitcher, when they already had Young who made it very clear he wanted to stay. I have watched others that professed a desire to remain in Seattle go away too many times. The club would be stronger if more of their players wanted Seattle as their home, rather than one year rent-a-players.
I don’t get how the Rule 5 process benefits anyone. To me it seems to hurt the development of the player and forces the club to keep a player on their roster who may or may not be ready for the majors.
It cuts both ways. You have to have played a certain number of seasons in an MLB minor league system to qualify, so getting picked in the Rule 5 draft might give a player a chance in his new organization that he wouldn’t have necessarily gotten with his former team. Otherwise I agree: It’s a shuffling of warm bodies for $50K a pop.
@RadioGuy:disqus
IIRC, it’s to help young players who might be stuck in the minors but all I know is that it seems to hurt more than help. Remember when the M’s tried to keep Fernando Vina after getting him in the Rule 5 draft? He blatantly wasn’t ready for the majors and the M’s really needed someone who could. There wasn’t a way to keep him on. Turned out to be a solid player later on.