Yankees Protect Two From Rule 5 Draft

With all of the talk regarding free agent targets, along with re-signing Robinson Cano, there's a very good chance that you've forgotten about the Rule 5 Draft.

"Damn, I almost forgot about that."

The Rule 5 Draft will take place on December 12th, and to be eligible for the draft a player must not be on their team's 40-man roster. After that, they must qualify in one of two ways...

1. The player was 18 years old or younger on the June 5th preceding their signing, and this would be the 5th Rule 5 Draft since said signing.
2. The player was 19 years old or older on the June 5th preceding their signing, and this would be the 4th Rule 5 Draft since said signing.

So to prevent somebody from being drafted, you'll see a number of team's adding players to their 40-man roster. As for the Yankees, they have a handful of minor leaguers that would be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, and we recently got word that two of them have been added to the 40-man roster.

The first guy is right-handed pitcher, Bryan Mitchell. Mitchell was drafted in the 16th round of the 2009 Amateur Draft. Although he hasn't been "lights out", he does have the ability to be really good. While his fastball sits in the mid-90s, he has a curveball that's almost as good as David Robertson's. Bryan got promoted to double-A Trenton late last season, so he's probably a year or two away from MLB.

The other player protected from the Rule 5 Draft was fellow right-hander, Shane Greene. Greene was also promoted to double-A Trenton this past season, but don't be surprised if we see him in Yankee pinstripes in 2014. Greene's fastball is a bit slower than Mitchell's, sitting in the low-90s, while he complements that with a nice slider. Shane's issues before this season revolved around his control, but he was able to take a big step forward in that department as his walk rate fell from 10.8% to 4.5%.

We're sure to hear about other players being protected from the Rule 5 Draft, and we'll keep you up to date on them.