And inactive in the Major League portion.
On Wednesday the Rule 5 Draft took place, and it was a quiet year for the San Francisco Giants in the Major League phase. We knew going into the draft that the Giants wouldn’t select any player in the Major League phase, as the Willy Adames signing becoming official filled out their 40-man roster, keeping them from being able to participate. The Giants also didn’t lose a player in the Major League portion which, while less guaranteed, wasn’t much of a surprise either.
Like most teams, though, the Giants were fairly active in the Minor League phase, gaining and losing a fair number of prospects.
A quick refresher on the rules for the Minor League phase: any Rule 5-eligible player that is not on the team’s 40-man roster or 38-player AAA roster can be drafted by another team, and the Giants can draft as many of those players as they want, until their AAA roster is full. The players don’t have to stay on the AAA roster, they can be reassigned the second the draft ends. Unlike in the Major League portion, there are no restrictions, and thus players cannot get returned to their original team. They’re just gone. The draft goes for as many rounds as it needs to until no one is making picks anymore. This year it went six rounds, with the Philadelphia Phillies being the lone team to pick six times. Two teams didn’t pick at all.
Like last year, the Giants lost a lot more players than they gained, as six Minor Leaguers were poached from their system, while they added just two. Here’s the breakdown.
Players the Giants lost in the Rule 5 Draft
INF Will Wilson (Guardians)
Wilson was the last of a whopping four players that the Giants lost in the first round of the draft, suggesting there was quite a frenzy for some of their prospects. He’s also the biggest name, even if he’s probably not the best prospect they’re parting with.
You’re probably familiar with Wilson’s story. He was a first-round pick (15th overall) by the Los Angeles Angels in 2019. The Giants reportedly were interested in drafting Wilson with the 10th overall pick, before settling on Hunter Bishop. But the Giants acquired Wilson just a year later, taking on the contract of Zack Cozart (who was released before Spring Training) so that they could grab Wilson, a powerful right-handed college bat who could play all across the infield.
It never really materialized. Wilson, like all Minor Leaguers, lost the 2020 season due to Covid, and in 2021 excelled in High-A but struggled tremendously after a promotion to AA. He was better in AA in 2022, earning a late-season promotion to AAA, and rising up some prospect lists. But he was awful in AAA in 2023, which resulted in a demotion back to AA. The writing was on the wall for Wilson when he was assigned to AA to start the 2024 season, and even though he made it back to AAA (out of roster necessity, not due to performance), he was one of the worst hitters in the Pacific Coast League. He’ll get a new chance in a Cleveland system that is very familiar with him.
LHP Nick Swiney (Astros)
The Giants nearly snuck Swiney through, as he was the 66th name called in a draft that featured 68 players. Like Wilson, Swiney once seemed primed to make it to the Majors with the Giants before falling on harder days. He was one of two Compensation Round picks that the Giants were given in the 2020 draft as a result of Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith rejecting their qualifying offers and signing elsewhere (technically Swiney was taken with the Bumgarner comp pick and Jimmy Glowenke with the Smith comp pick, but since they were drafted consecutively it’s kind of a collective thing).
Swiney shined right out of the gates as a southpaw reliever and started to fly through the system. He dominated rookie ball and Low-A in 2021, and had a strong showing in High-A in 2022. He was so excellent in six appearances in AA in 2023 that he earned an early promotion to AAA, and then he started to hit a wall. He began the 2024 season back in AA, and never made it back to Sacramento. The 1.15 ERA that he had in AA in 2023 turned into a 5.25 mark in 2024, and led to the Giants not protecting him.
RHP Wil Jensen (Cubs)
While Wilson and Swiney represent prospects who were high draft picks and still have potential to be tapped into, Jensen — the first Giant taken in this year’s Rule 5 Draft — represents a different mold. His ceiling is surely lower than those two, but, like many players taken in the Major League portion, he could potentially help a team right now.
Jensen was an undrafted signing for the Giants following the truncated 2020 draft, after being drafted by the A’s in the 28th round in 2019, but not signing. He’s on the old end for a prospect, as he’s 27, but he’s as steady as they come. In 2023, Jensen posted a 2.53 ERA in AA, appearing in 34 games (mostly as a reliever). But the Giants signaled that they were not incredibly high on him, by having him start 2024 in AA for a third year. And even though he had a 3.43 ERA in 32 games there, he was only ever called up to AAA to occasionally fill in when Sacramento was low on players.
OF Cesar Quintas (Mariners)
Quintas was a very young international signing back in the 2019 period, which makes him one of the youngest players you’ll see taken in the Rule 5 Draft, as he won’t turn 22 until right around the start of the season. He’s also had a fascinating career path. He was one of the Minor League’s most prolific on-base artists in 2023, having an absurd .372 batting average and .506 on-base percentage in the Arizona Complex League, but that came with just one home run in 168 plate appearances. He flipped the script when promoted to Low-A in 2024, where he smacked 12 homers in 440 plate appearances … but his batting average dropped all the way to .228, and his on-base percentage to .320. He has yet to make it out of Low-A.
RHP Julio Rodriguez (Astros)
Well, the days of being able to say that the Giants have Julio Rodriguez in their system are over. Roger Munter had reported that scouts were high on Rodriguez, so it’s not surprising that he was nabbed. A soon-to-be 25-year old whom the Giants signed in the 2018 international period, Rodriguez thoroughly dominated High-A in 2024, though his numbers in AA weren’t so good (and he had a brief appearance in AAA). He throws gas with a nice curveball, and has the much coveted duet of high strikeouts and high ground ball rates. The Giants were surely hoping he wouldn’t be selected, but they probably were expecting this. Sometimes it’s just a numbers game.
C Andy Thomas (Padres)
The Giants had hopes that almost materialized of keeping Thomas, as he lasted until the 56th pick. Thomas came over to the Giants in 2022, as one of two prospects that the Giants received from the Mariners when they sent Matthew Boyd and Curt Casali to Seattle. He’s been solid depth for the organization, but he spent the entirety of both 2023 and 2024 in AA, so it seems like Minor League depth was what he was destined for with the Giants.
Players the Giants selected in the Rule 5 Draft
LHP C.J. Widger (Padres)
This happens a few times every Rule 5 Draft, and it happened to Widger this year: he was taken in the draft despite having just signed with a team. After electing free agency following stints with the Rangers and Mariners, Widger signed a Minor League deal with the Padres on November 17. That deal apparently didn’t come with a guarantee that he’d be on the AAA roster, because he was left unprotected and nabbed by the Giants before ever donning a Padres jersey.
Widger has struggled with run prevention and walks in his short career (he was a 10th-round pick in 2021), but the southpaw reliever has electric strikeout stuff. In 2024 he struck out 13.5 batters per nine innings in both Low and High-A. He has yet to play in the upper minors.
RHP Sadrac Franco (Tigers)
The Giants only drafted two players, but they sure made sure to get some guys with cool names! And, like Widger, Franco becomes a player poached before ever playing for his new team. He was released in September after a whopping eight years in the Angels system, and signed a free agent deal with the Tigers on October 30. After spending three years in rookie ball, Franco didn’t pitch at all between 2020 and 2022. He returned in 2023 and, between rookie ball and Low-A, has posted amazing ERAs and awful FIPs. Make of that what you will!
And that’s the Giants 2024 Rule 5 Draft! Best of luck to the names that are coming and going.
For some historical context, here are the last two Rule 5 Drafts for the Giants:
2023
Added in MLB phase: None
Lost in MLB phase: None
Added in MiLB phase: RHP Nick Garcia, INF Dariel Lopez
Lost in MiLB phase: 2B Hayden Cantrelle, 3B Sean Roby, OF P.J. Hilson
2022
Added in MLB phase: Blake Sabol
Lost in MLB phase: Nick Avila
Added in MiLB phase: None
Lost in MiLB phase: RHP Wei-Chieh Huang, C Ronaldo Flores, RHP Taylor Rashi, OF Armani Smith, 1B Frankie Tostado, RHP Brooks Crawford, RHP Yoniel Ramirez, RHP Willian Suarez