(Photo Credit: Rich Crimi/Tulsa Drillers)
Another big set of decisions by the Los Angeles Dodgers front office crew will foreseeably be made this week, as every MLB club has until Friday to make last minute additions to their 40-man rosters or else risk losing qualified players to the Rule 5 draft, which will be held during the Winter Meetings early next month in Maryland.
“Players first signed at age 18 must be added to 40-man rosters within five seasons or they become eligible to be drafted by other organizations through the Rule 5 process. Players signed at 19 years or older have to be protected within four seasons. Clubs pay $50,000 to select a player in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft. If that player doesn’t stay on the 25-man roster for the full season, he must be offered back to his former team for $25,000.”
As far as the Dodgers are concerned, the team has four players that fit the above criteria — starting pitcher Chase De Jong, reliever Jacob Rhame, catcher/third baseman Kyle Farmer and outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo. Yet, with open spots needed to protect all four, the club currently has only three vacancies left on the 40-man roster. The present number was narrowed to 37 when Chin-hui Tsao was outrighted to Triple-A Oklahoma City on November 9.
De Jong was crowned 2016 Texas League Pitcher of the Year and tallied a 14-5 record for Double-A Tulsa this season, posting a 2.86 ERA and a 1.024 WHIP with 125 strikeouts in 141-2/3 innings of work before being promoted to OKC’s starting rotation in the playoffs. Chase sat down with TBPC for a very detailed player interview last May.
The hard throwing Rhame put together a 3.29 ERA and an impressive 10.0 K/9 over 63 innings of work as OKC’s primary closer in 2016. TBPC did a concise profile on Rhame last February.
Farmer played 16 games at third and 56 at catcher for Tulsa this year, hitting .256/.323/.395 over 297 plate appearances. His biggest game of the year came in April at San Antonio when he went 3-for-5 at the dish, racking up two home runs and four RBI.
Scavuzzo is commonly considered to be one of the best pure athletes in the entire Dodgers’ organization. He impressively starred in four sports during his time at Villa Park High, as his athletic skills and talents eventually merited him the Orange County Male Athlete of the Year award in 2012. Scavuzzo took a few moments from his hectic schedule in September to sit down with us and discuss a few highlights from his young career on the farm.
All four players appeared on TBPC’s unique “Top Prospects by Position” list earlier this month.
This year, there are 12 players on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list who need to be added to their respective club’s 40-man rosters or risk being lost in next month’s draft. Last year, there were 11 players that fell into such a category, and all 11 were added.