Cleveland lost one one prospect in the MLB portion of the draft.
The 2024 Rule 5 Draft was held earlier today at the conclusion of the 2024 Winter Meetings.
Players eligible to be drafted can be protected on a team’s 40-man roster. This year, Cleveland protected bullpen arms RHP Franco Aleman and RHP Nic Enright, starter LHP Doug Nikhazy and one position player in OF Petey Halpin.
If a player is selected in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft, they must stay on the selecting team’s 26-man roster for the entire season or be offered back to their original team.
Cleveland had two open spots on its 40-man roster, but the Guardians chose to pass in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 Draft.
The Atlanta Braves had other ideas, selecting SS Christian Cairo from Cleveland with their second Rule 5 Draft pick.
Cairo, 23, was a fourth-round pick out of Cavalry Christian High School by Cleveland in the 2019 MLB Draft. His father, Miguel Cairo, was a solid journeyman super-utility player who had a 17-year MLB career.
Christian Cairo was pretty average at the MiLB level until repeating at High-A in 2023, where he posted a 114 wRC+ thanks to a 17% walk-rate and reduced 19.2% strikeout rate. He got off to a hot start with Double-A Akron this past season, slashing .252/.353/.344 before earning a promotion to Triple-A, where he held his own with a .355 walk-rate. He stole a career-best 26 bases on the season.
Cairo has primarily been a depth option in Cleveland’s system after failing to break out offensively. His career high for home runs in a year is six, and at 5-foot-9, the power likely isn’t coming. His best path to stick at MLB may be following his father’s footsteps with his ability to play all infield positions and left field while at least being able to get on base with a decent eye at the plate.
The minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft is the less flashy part of the Rule 5 draft, but it’s where teams typically make the most moves.
It’s the same idea as the major-league portion of the draft — team A picks a player from team B that is not on their 40-man roster — but without the requirement that their selection be placed on their own 26-man roster for the regular season, only that they pay up to $24,000 to the former team. The age requirements for the minor-league portion of the draft are the same as its major-league counterpart, but eligible players must be at Double-A or below.
Put all of this together, and you usually end up with older prospects at lower levels of the minor leagues taken. This could be guys who have stumbled due to injury, something not clicking with their current team’s development system, or any number of reasons they haven’t reached Triple-A into their mid-20s.
In the 2024 Rule 5 draft, the Guardians added one player in the minor-league rounds. Here is who they took, along with their position, age, final level of 2024, and former major-league organization.
A first-round pick of the Angels in 2019, Wilson was quickly swapped to San Francisco, where he advanced to Double-A by 2021. He repeated there in 2022, posting a 109 wRC+ and earning a promotion to Triple-A, but he has been unable to perform at that level. He’s advanced to Triple-A in all of the past three seasons and his best performance there was a 67 wRC+ in 2023, hitting 13 home runs while striking out 25% of the time. Last season he struggled at both Double-A and Triple-A. Wilson appears to be a depth option unless Cleveland can unlock something. Here he is blasting a home run in 2023 Spring Training.
Will Wilson extends the Giants' lead with a blast pic.twitter.com/A7nIXcXdDx
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) March 19, 2023
Cleveland also lost a trio of players in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. They are as follows:
Known for his speed, Durango had his best season statistically in his pro debut in 2021, posting a 119 wRC+ in 46 games in Arizona, where he slashed .309/.399/.404 while stealing 28 bases and hitting three home runs. He’s yet to hit a home run since and spent his age 19, 20 and 21 seasons at Single-A Lynchburg, where he’s struggled to stay health and has been league average, most recently posting a 103 wRC+ in 2024 but also cutting his walk rate in half. He was one of the fastest players in the system, but unless the Yankees see something I don’t, he won’t be a major loss.
A 35th round pick by Cleveland in 2019, Labaut impressed in the Arizona Complex League with a 1.74 ERA and career-best 2.24 FIP over 11 games. After missing the 2020 season due to COVID, he had a decent 2021 season at Single-A before impressing at High-A in 2022 with a 1.89 ERA over 20 appearances with Lake County, earning a promotion to Double-A Akron. Labaut struggled initially at Akron, but impressed in 2023 when he repeated there, sporting a 1.82 ERA over 17 appearances and earning a promotion to Triple-A. He’s struggled at Triple-A the past two seasons, having yet to post an FIP below 5.47 while seeing his strikeout numbers tank and his walk-rate explode. The struggles at this level were likely the reason he wasn’t protected, but maybe the Pirates see something from his previous seasons they can unlock.
Hajjar was part of the return from the Cincinnati Reds in the Will Benson trade. He was a second round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft by the Reds, but an inability to throw strikes has kept him from advancing past the High-A level the past three seasons. Hajjar has the ability to strike opponents out, but his walk rate was 7.71 per nine innings in 2022, 8.16 in 2023 and it rose to 9.08 in 2024 over a career-high 30 appearances. If someone can figure out how to teach him to throw strikes, maybe there’s something there, but he hasn’t shown it yet and Cleveland pitching and development coaches were likely saved a season of headaches and frustration when the Pirates selected him.
