The deadline to protect Rule 5 Draft eligible players was November 15. This year, seven of the Brewers top 30 prospects were initially eligible. They ended up protecting three of them in Brice Turang, Abner Uribe, and Cam Robinson. Jon Singleton was also added to the 40-man roster at that time. This left some players unprotected from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. In a recent article, MLB pipeline labeled Victor Castaneda as the Brewers most intriguing unprotected Rule 5 draft player.
Brewers Rule 5 Draft Eligible Prospect: Victor Castaneda
This is the second consecutive off-season in which Victor Castaneda has been left unprotected from the Rule 5 draft. The 24 year old right-handed starting pitcher played primarily at the Double-A level in 2022, but did make three starts in Triple-A. Overall he finished the season with a 4.10 ERA, 120 innings pitched, and 118 strikeouts.
Castaneda’s best pitch is his splitter. His splitter is effective against both right-handed and left-handed batters. However, Castaneda has never put up gaudy numbers. He also was bumped off the top 30 prospects list with the addition of Janson Junk. It would be surprising to see a team take a flier on him in the Rule 5 draft this off-season.
Of the other Brewers prospects on the top 30 list that are unprotected, all are years away from being big league ready. Felix Valerio spent all of 2022 in Double-A. Both Eduardo Garcia and Carlos Rodriguez have not played above the A+ level.
Thankfully the Brewers protected the players they needed to prior to the deadline. It would be surprising to see any of the teams prospects selected in this year’s Rule 5 draft. The Rule 5 draft will be held on December 7 this year.
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