BA has added a bunch of additional names to their list of Rule 5 potential candidates
A bunch of Guardians' pitchers are included:

Nic Enright, RHP, Guardians

Enright is one of the most polished available relievers in this year’s Rule 5 class. He has plenty of upper-level MiLB experience, with over 100 innings and more than 70 appearances in Double-A and Triple-A, and he has a lengthy track record of success. He posted a 2.88 ERA with a .203 opponent batting average, 1.9 BB/9, 11.9 K/9 and a 2.89 FIP in 2022. Enright has a pair of above-average pitches to work with. His low-90s fastball has modest velocity, but it has some of the best carry in the minors, which makes it a bat-misser that he can dot the zone with. His low-80s slider generates plenty of swings and misses as well, and serves as an excellent chase pitch when he gets ahead in counts. With excellent fastball life and plus control, Enright could be a relatively low-risk addition to a big league bullpen as a Rule 5 pick.


Trey Benton, RHP, Guardians

It was an unusual season for Benton, who showed improvement across his pitch mix in 2022, but struggled with command. Despite walking 14% of the batters he faced last season, Benton finished the season with a 2.08 ERA over 43.1 innings with a 28% strikeout rate. What made Benton most interesting is the improved shape and power of his four-seam fastball in 2022. Benton averaged just under 17 inches of induced vertical break on his low-90s fastball in 2021. Coming out of spring training in 2022, Benton was generating more than 19 inches of induced vertical break on average while sitting 92-94 mph. His four-seam fastball has a nearly perfect vertical axis of 12:00, allowing Benton to generate cut and ride on his fastball. He pairs his fastball with a mid-80s sweeper that is Benton’s most thrown secondary offering. His high-70s curveball with -20 inches of induced vertical break is used heavily against lefthanded batters and generates the highest rate of swings and misses in his arsenal. Benton will show a cutter and changeup, but each of those pitches were thrown rarely during the 2022 campaign.

Kevin Kelly, RHP, Guardians

There’s one pitcher available in the Rule 5 draft that meets the following qualifiers—50 or more innings pitched, a strikeout rate of 29% or higher, a walk rate of 9% or lower, a groundball rate above 50% and a FIP below 3.00 in 2022. That pitcher is the Guardians righthander Kevin Kelly. While he’s not a player popular in prospect circles, his skill set likely has him on a few teams' radars leading up to the Rule 5 draft. Kelly is a 2019 19th-round pick by Cleveland out of James Madison who didn’t make his full-season debut until 2021. After a strong season in 2021, Kelly was assigned to Double-A Akron, where he made 16 appearances over the first two months of the season, striking out 32 batters to nine walks while allowing three earned runs over 24.1 innings. He saw a promotion to Triple-A Columbus, where he made 32 appearances, striking out 28.9% of the batters he faced while generating ground balls at a rate of 62.2%. Kelly uses four pitches and two fastball shapes, but primarily relies on his sinker and slider mix. His low-90s sinker is his most thrown pitch, driving groundball contact at a high rate and average whiffs for a sinker. His slider is a mid-70s sweeper with between 15-17 inches of horizontal break on average. None of Kelly’s pitches have power or generate a high rate of swings and misses, but he throws strikes and generates lots of weak contact.

Ethan Hankins, RHP, Guardians

Hankins is a somewhat sneakily interesting pick, but a team selecting him would do so based on very little information. Hankins threw exactly one inning in 2022 in an appearance in the Arizona Complex League. That is one more inning than he threw in 2021, as he injured his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. That comes after missing 2020 because of the pandemic. Add it up, and the Guardians’ 2018 first-round pick has thrown just 64 innings as a pro, 60 of which came in 2019. He’s in no way ready for the majors, but a team willing to stash him in the back of the bullpen could decide to take a gamble. He had a mid-90s fastball and promising secondary offerings pre-injury, but there’s precious little to go on.

Covering the Bases on Rule 5

Players who have appeared in the Guardians prospect rankings for MLB Pipeline or Covering the Corner at some point include Peyton Battenfield, Ethan Hankins, Lenny Torres, Aaron Bracho, Gabriel Rodriguez, Junior Sanquinton, Alexfri Planez, and Johnathan Rodriguez.

Hankins and Torres were first-round draft picks in 2018 out of high school and both showed incredible flashes of brilliance as prep school right-handed pitchers before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Torres is three years removed from TJ and has yet to recapture his prospect luster after pitching both last year and this season at Low-A Lynchburg. He most recently had a 7.27 ERA in 8.2 IP as a reliever in the Arizona Fall League. Hankins had his surgery more recently and he pitched a grand total of 1.0 professional inning this past season in a rehab outing in Arizona.

Another right-handed pitcher, Battenfield spent the entire 2022 season at Triple-A Columbus and was expected to help the Cleveland rotation this season, but declining strikeout numbers (6.38 K/9) and soaring walk-rate (3.34 BB/9) caused him to be skipped over repeatedly.

Bracho, Rodriguez, and Sanquinton were all highly-regarded international signings. Bracho infamously was the highest-paid signing in Cleveland’s vaunted class that included George Valera, Brayan Rocchio, Jose Tena, and Johnkensy Noel, among others. He has struggled for two consecutive seasons at High-A Lake County and should be safe from selection.

Gabriel Rodriguez and Sanquinton were the top two international signings the following year. Sanquinton has yet to make his mark professionally, making a brief appearance at Low-A Lynchburg this season, but Rodriguez had an impressive 2022 campaign with High-A Lake County, slashing .272/.343/.416 over a full season and posting his first wRC+ of over 100 (112) since he debuted in the rookie league in 2019.

Johnathan Rodriguez was a third-round pick in 2017 and is coming off a breakout season where his power numbers exploded. After slugging 14 home runs from 2017 to 2021, he bashed 26 between High-A and Double-A last season, posting a ridiculous 148 wRC+ in 79 games at Lake County before coming back to Earth after his promotion.

Planez was a part of the Valera/Rocchio etc international class and he also had his moments last year, bashing 19 home runs, although his .289 OBP at High-A should scare away any potential teams.

Honestly, the players I’m most concerned about losing aren’t considered top prospects but are players who could help the team in 2023. They are:

LHP Andrew Misiaszek — A 32nd-round pick in 2019, Misiaszek was one of Cleveland’s top bullpen arms in its minor league system last season. In 17 appearances at Double-A, he struck out 13.5 batters per nine innings while sporting a minuscule 0.56 ERA. he spent the second half of the season at Triple-A Columbus, where his ERA climbed to 3.64, but his strikeout rate remained elite at 12.5. Walks could prevent him from being selected.

RHP Nic Enright — A 20th-round pick in 2019, Enright has flashed impressive strikeout ability at every level. Most impressively, he performed better at Triple-A last season than he did at Double-A. While with the Clippers, he whiffed 12.16 batters per nine innings while nearly cutting his walk rate in half to 1.46 per nine.

1B/OF Micah Pries — Pries potentially fills the gap for Cleveland in two areas of need, although the fact that he bats left-handed doesn’t help him with all the southpaw swingers blocking his path in the pecking order. A 13th-round pick in 2019, he has hit at every level he’s ever played, including Double-A last season, where he slashed .266/.341/.473, bashed 18 home runs and sported a 119 wRC+.

C/1B/3B David Fry — Cleveland acquired Fry last offseason for JC Mejia. He’s not a particularly great defensive catcher and didn’t spend a ton of time there last season (12 games), but he hit pretty well (.256.329.450) with 17 home runs and a career-low 19.2% strikeout rate.

The Guardians did not lose any prospects in the 2021 Rule 5 draft because there wasn’t one due to the lockout (Oscar Gonzalez says thank you).

Guardians have already lost 2 players in Rule 5 draft.

8. Rockies: RHP Kevin Kelly (Guardians)
9. Marlins: RHP Nick Enright (Guardians)

First Round

1. Nationals: RHP Thad Ward (Red Sox) (hat tip to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com)
2. A’s: 1B Ryan Noda (Dodgers)
3. Pirates: LHP Jose Hernandez (Dodgers)
4. Reds: OF Blake Sabol (Pirates)
5. Royals: pass
6. Tigers: RHP Mason Englert (Rangers)
7. Rangers: pass
8. Rockies: RHP Kevin Kelly (Guardians)
9. Marlins: RHP Nick Enright (Guardians)
10. Angels: pass
11. D-backs: pass

First Round

1. Nationals: RHP Thad Ward (Red Sox) (hat tip to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com)
2. A’s: 1B Ryan Noda (Dodgers)
3. Pirates: LHP Jose Hernandez (Dodgers)
4. Reds: OF Blake Sabol (Pirates)
5. Royals: pass
6. Tigers: RHP Mason Englert (Rangers)
7. Rangers: pass
8. Rockies: RHP Kevin Kelly (Guardians)
9. Marlins: RHP Nic Enright (Guardians)
10. Angels: pass
11. D-backs: pass
12. Cubs: pass
13. Twins: pass
14. Red Sox: pass
15. White Sox: RHP Nick Avila (Giants)
16. Giants: pass
17. Orioles: RHP Andrew Politi (Red Sox)
18. Brewers: RHP Gus Varland (Dodgers)
19. Rays: pass
20. Phillies: RHP Noah Song (Red Sox)
21. Padres: LHP Jose Lopez (Rays)
22. Mariners: RHP Chris Clarke (Cubs)
23. Guardians: pass
24. Blue Jays: pass
25. Cardinals:RHP Wilking Rodriguez (Yankees)
26. Yankees: pass
27. Mets: RHP Zach Greene (Yankees)
27. Braves: pass
29. Astros: pass
30. Dodgers: pass

Second Round

all teams passed

Kelly and Enright have been very high on any prospect lists but did make the BA list of possibilities as noted above:

Nic Enright, RHP, Guardians sounds like good pick

Enright is one of the most polished available relievers in this year’s Rule 5 class. He has plenty of upper-level MiLB experience, with over 100 innings and more than 70 appearances in Double-A and Triple-A, and he has a lengthy track record of success. He posted a 2.88 ERA with a .203 opponent batting average, 1.9 BB/9, 11.9 K/9 and a 2.89 FIP in 2022. Enright has a pair of above-average pitches to work with. His low-90s fastball has modest velocity, but it has some of the best carry in the minors, which makes it a bat-misser that he can dot the zone with. His low-80s slider generates plenty of swings and misses as well, and serves as an excellent chase pitch when he gets ahead in counts. With excellent fastball life and plus control, Enright could be a relatively low-risk addition to a big league bullpen as a Rule 5 pick.

Kevin Kelly, RHP, Guardians another decent prospect for bullpen depth. We had good luck with Trevor Stephan for our bullpen. Years back TJ McFarland with mediocre stuff was chosen from CLE and went on to have a decent middle of the bullpen career. Rule 5 is a good place to use to stock the relief corps

There’s one pitcher available in the Rule 5 draft that meets the following qualifiers—50 or more innings pitched, a strikeout rate of 29% or higher, a walk rate of 9% or lower, a groundball rate above 50% and a FIP below 3.00 in 2022. That pitcher is the Guardians righthander Kevin Kelly. While he’s not a player popular in prospect circles, his skill set likely has him on a few teams' radars leading up to the Rule 5 draft. Kelly is a 2019 19th-round pick by Cleveland out of James Madison who didn’t make his full-season debut until 2021. After a strong season in 2021, Kelly was assigned to Double-A Akron, where he made 16 appearances over the first two months of the season, striking out 32 batters to nine walks while allowing three earned runs over 24.1 innings. He saw a promotion to Triple-A Columbus, where he made 32 appearances, striking out 28.9% of the batters he faced while generating ground balls at a rate of 62.2%. Kelly uses four pitches and two fastball shapes, but primarily relies on his sinker and slider mix. His low-90s sinker is his most thrown pitch, driving groundball contact at a high rate and average whiffs for a sinker. His slider is a mid-70s sweeper with between 15-17 inches of horizontal break on average. None of Kelly’s pitches have power or generate a high rate of swings and misses, but he throws strikes and generates lots of weak contact.

Drafted at 5 pm. was complete in 10 minutes, or less.

There is a Minor League phase which comes up next. That's very rarely going to yield eventual major leaguers. I way to stock weak sections of a farm systems. Unlike the MLB phase these guys are not "on approval" they can stick with the new organization at any level the team chooses to place them.
Sometimes a former high draft pick who has flouondered may go here; I remember Kieran Lovegrove who probably most of you don't, drafted in the top 3-5 rounds, never developed his command, went somewhere else and didn't fare any better.

G's pocket 200k

In the pretty much irrelevant Minor League phase

We lost LHP Eli Lingos He's mostly worked for Akron, with part of 2022 in Columbus, a fill in starter when necessary. Useful minor leaguer.

We picked RHP Bradley Hanner (MIN)
C Michael Berglund (TB)
RHP Justin Lewis (AZ)

Hanner 23 year old RHP 6-4 21st round pick in 2019
2022 MiLB Stats 7 4 4.60 39 1 2 58.2 65 1.24 in HIgh A
MiLB Career Stats 11 8 5.39 76 2 5 127.0 144 1.42
Next Game:

Berglund 25 year old catcher 8th round pick in 2018
AB R H HR RBI SB AVG OBP OPS
2022 MiLB Stats 201 36 47 4 16 3 .234 .377 .730 including 224 in High A and 4 at bats in AA
MiLB Career Stats 473 78 107 5 59 7 .226 .368 .679


Lewis 27! year old RHP 6-7 but not a strikeout specialist 12th round pick in 2018. A starter in 2019, relief since then.
IP SO WHIP
2022 MiLB Stats 3 2 5.18 39 0 0 48.2 52 1.48 half year in AA half year in AAA not very good either place
MiLB Career Stats 12 10 4.46 101 24 1 216.0 236 1.38

Lingos stats much more impressive 26 year old Lefty
2022 MiLB Stats 2 2 3.13 38 3 1 63.1 53 1.06 including 3.32 in Columbus
MiLB Career Stats 11 8 3.74 93 20 5 223.2 215 1.15

A coach once told me they're a 3 types of players in the minor leagues.....prospects, organizational players and favors.

The favors are sons of coaches and baseball people who are not prospects.

Organizational players fill out teams so prospects can play.

I forget what the percentage is for players signed to initial minor league contracts ever playing major league baseball, but it's pretty small.

All minor leaguers are talented but talent alone isn't enough to make it to the Show.

Yep! I sometimes judge a system's strength by the number or Minor League free agents they sign each winter. those are the organizational players for life who rarely but sometimes get a breakthrough for a few days in the majors [Andy Call last summer for the G's, remember him?, and then a few more for another team after we DFAd him] and rarely turn into careerists

Guess sometimes you find that needle in a haystack.

Guardians Prospective
@CleGuardPro

Wanna know how deep the #Guardians farm system is? Enright couldn't crack my 2022 top 50 end of the year prospect list. Comes in at #24 for the Marlins according to MLB Pipeline.

"Ten Minor League Rule 5 Picks With Upside For Their New Teams" [Baseball America weighs in]
Any coming to or going from the Guardians?

Nope