Isaac Stevens | @RoxMiLBReport | December 11, 2023
The Rule 5 Draft allows MLB Teams to select players from other teams’ farm systems. In the MLB portion players must be selected on the 40-man roster in order to be protected. In the MiLB portion teams can select eligible players that aren’t protected on each team’s MiLB reserve list. If a player signs at age 18 or younger they have five professional seasons before being Rule 5 eligible, for players 19 years or older it’s four seasons.
The Rockies drafted one player in the MLB phase, and two in the MiLB phase. While five Rockies Minor Leaguers were selected in the MiLB phase. With that I’ll be going over each player selected, and what they bring to their new organization.
Rockies Selected: RHP Anthony Molina (MLB, TB), RHP Brendan Hardy (AAA, NYM), RHP Thomas Ponticelli (AAA, CLE)
Rockies Lost: RHP Fineas Del Bonta-Smith (AAA, PIT), RHP Nick Garcia (AAA, SFG), RHP Gabriel Barbosa (AAA, NYY), RHP Alan Perdomo (AAA, NYM), RHP Nelvis Ochoa (AAA, BAL)
Who the Rockies Drafted:
RHP Anthony Molina – MLB Phase – Tampa Bay Rays
The Rockies had the third pick in the Rule 5 draft, and when they saw the 21 year old with a great Minor League track record they were quick to select him. He made it all the way to Triple-A in 2023, and put up a 4.37 ERA. He wasn’t striking out as many guys in Triple-A as you’d want from a Minor Leaguer, but he has other assets that can find him success in the daunting task of Coors Field.
Anthony Molina is a three pitch pitcher, they consist of a 4-seam fastball, slider, and a changeup. Molina pounds strikes with his 4-seam fastball and slider. His fastball averaged in 94, and topped out at 97. Since he is so young we can still see a velocity boost on his fastball; which would be ideal with only three pitches. His slider has the highest CSW% (Called Strikes + Whiffs Percentage. It’s good at evaluating which pitches are best thrown in the zone while generating swings and misses), and it is his main strikeout pitch. His changeup has nice drop action to it, so more often than not a guy will hit his changeup on the ground. Again, it’s ideal for Coors field.
As of right now it looks like Molina will be a long relief pitcher out of the bullpen at the start of 2024. However, there is a lot of off-season left and spring training where Molina could prove why he should be in the rotation. He will be a fun development to look out for next season.
RHP Brendan Hardy – MiLB Phase – New York Mets
Brendan Hardy was a 920th overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Mets, and he’s been in their system since then. He’s been used out of the pen the entire time. At every level he’s played at he has struck out a lot of players, and the Rockies liked it enough to select him. In 35 innings pitched in 2023 between A,A+, and AA Hardy had a 1.80 ERA with a 13.89 SO/9. It’s worth noting he played in the Arizona Fall League in 2023, but had a 6.35 ERA in 5.2 IP.
Hardy throws a Fastball/Sinker, Changeup, and a Sweeping Slider. His fastball averages 91-94 MPH on his fastball, and touches 95 MPH. He does get good spin on his fastball for his velocity, so that’ll help him in the long run if he doesn’t add more velo. His slider is by far his best pitch. It has sharp sweeping movement, and at any level that’ll bring swing and misses. It has a future 60 grade, and that is important if he pitches in Coors. He also throws a changeup, but there is nothing particularly flashy about it. It gives him more flexibility.
Brendan Hardy has always been praised for his athleticism and his projectable build for pitching. He stands at 6’4″ and 170 pounds, and he has a smooth consistent delivery. With his low velocity it makes it harder for him to make the MLB, but if his command improves further and he maintains the strikeouts we could see him anytime in the next two seasons. I predict that the Rockies will start him out in AA Hartford, but we could see him get a AAA call up.
RHP Thomas Ponticelli – MiLB Phase – Cleveland Guardians
Thomas Ponticelli is a 2018 draftee by Cleveland, since then he has spent time starting games and out of the bullpen. His first full season of AAA in 2023 wasn’t the prettiest, he had a 4.64 ERA in 64 innings. He doesn’t strike a lot of guys out, and has some command issues so that doesn’t set him up great for the more traditional statistics (ERA, WHIP, etc.)
Ponticelli offers five different pitches; 4-seam, changeup, slider, sinker, sweeper. Despite some poor results in 2023, there are a lot of good things to gather from those outings. His fastball averaged 93.4 MPH, but in some games he was averaging 95-96 MPH. He’s shown that he can dial it up, with consistency there will be less hard hit balls. He throws both a slider and sweeper, the slider moving more vertically while the sweeper moves more horizontally. He throws the sweeper in the zone a lot more than the slider, but both result in a similar amount of swings and misses. Finally, his changeup and sinker led to a lot of chases out of the zone, leading to big groundball numbers. His repertoire is intriguing for Colorado, it’ll be interesting how the Rockies will work with it.
There is no doubt that Thomas Ponticelli is starting the year in Albuquerque, the question is if he will be a starter or a reliever. In 2023 he only started 5 games in 44 games pitched. Really, he’s never spent an entire professional year as a starter, but if I were the Rockies I’d push for it. His 5 pitches will hold their own in the PCL (the best they can for a starter), and he doesn’t have the pure stuff to be Major League reliever. Ponticelli will be a project for the Rockies, but there is a lot to like with him.
Who the Rockies Lost:
RHP Fineas Del Bonta-Smith – MiLB Phase – Selected By Pittsburgh Pirates
In 2022 Bonta-Smith was a breakout reliever for the AA Yard Goats. He was punching guys out, keeping the walks down, and had a 3.95 ERA. The Rockies were intrigued enough by Fineas Del Bonta-Smith they had him pitch in the Arizona Fall League after the 2022 season. Unfortunately that success didn’t carry into 2023. He started the season in AA again, and lost his sense of command. All his stats were inflated, and he didn’t get the call up to AAA that many were expecting.
Being a part of the Pirates organization will probably be better for the type of pitcher Bonta-Smith is. Pitchers hardly find success in the PCL, and it likely would have been the same for Bonta-Smith. If he keeps the strikeouts up and impresses at AAA (presumably) for the Pirates he could possibly get a look in their bullpen. Worth noting, he’s going to be 27 without making it past Double-A by season’s start.
RHP Nick Garcia – MiLB Phase – Selected by San Francisco Giants
In the Off Season Nick Garcia was traded to the Rockies from the Pirates in exchange for Rockies legend Connor Joe. Garcia was not welcomed nicely in his first season in the Rockies organization, he put up a 7.35 ERA in 94.1 innings pitched. His SO% also went down 4.4%. He was hit very hard in AA Hartford, and the Rockies had no answers for him which is likely why he didn’t get protected.
Though there is still something fascinating about him though. His fastball has excellent spin on it, whatsoever all of his secondary pitches do not. When Garcia was traded to the Rockies there was interest if the Rockies would have tweaked something to add more spin. However that did not happen. So it thrills me that the Giants selected him. They are great at developing pitchers and spin rates, so this can be a great opportunity for Nick Garcia!
Gabriel Barbosa – MiLB Phase – New York Yankees
Since 2021 there have been three pitchers in Minor League Baseball with a BB% 4.5 or lower (min. 180 IP). One of which is Gabriel Barbosa. When you are looking at a guy with elite control there is usually one conclusion that you can jump to, and that they’ll be a Major League Pitcher. Of course that’s an overreach for a 21 year old who hasn’t made it past A-ball, but there is exciting stuff there. in 2023 Barbosa had a 5.44 ERA, but that is watered down by his 3.85 FIP on the season.
It will be interesting to see how the Yankees are going to choose and develop Gabriel Barbosa. There is still room to add muscle and velocity which will help with his velocity. If you are a Minor League Baseball fan take time to learn about Gabriel Barbosa. He is one of the most fun and interesting prospects right now. I assume that he’ll start out with the A+ Hudson Valley Renegades.
RHP Alan Perdomo – MiLB Phase – New York Mets
Alan Perdomo has been a project for the Rockies since 2018. He was even a rare four year DSL player (the general rule is that a player can only be in the DSL for three seasons. In some cases there can be a contractual agreement, or a situation granted by the MLB if it stunts the players development). It’s been a slow process, and there have been little results of improvement year by year. Many teams were unaware of Perdomo, and the Rockies were presumably hoping for the same thing.
Perdomo is 6’4″, 150 lbs. Undersized for a 22 year old professional pitcher. Despite that Perdomo has a big fastball. Probably bigger than big fastball. It averages high 90s, and touches 99 MPH. The potential and hope that he fills out more was the Mets leading cause for selecting Perdomo. Players with big fastballs fly through the Minor Leagues, and I believe that we will see that with Alan Perdomo!
RHP Nelvis Ochoa – MiLB Phase – Baltimore Orioles
Nelvis Ochoa was a DSL All Star in 2023, and his great 2023 season shows why. He had a 3.38 ERA and a 9.61 in 34.2 IP out of the bullpen. Ochoa had a huge curveball that was borderline unhittable in the DSL. Ochoa is undersized, and doesn’t bring the most velocity. He is still young though, so those statements aren’t entirely relevant.
It’s not common for guys who’ve never pitched outside of the DSL to get selected in the Rule 5 Draft. The Orioles really liked something about his game, and I can’t find anything that jumps off the page that much. However the Orioles know a lot more than me. It’s going to be exciting to see what the Orioles do with Ochoa because of how unique his selection was.
Final Thoughts:
The Rule-5 Draft always brings exciting switch ups to every organization. The Rockies specifically haven’t had the most success in their previous selections, but with RHP Anthony Molina I am sure that will change very soon. Players always perform differently once they change organizations, so make sure to read BSB’s Weekly Minor League Recap once the season starts.
Thank you all for reading!
Leave a Reply