History of Pirates' Rule 5 Draft picks

The Pirates have the distinction of having made the best and most famous Rule 5 Draft pick of all time: Roberto Clemente.

A lot about the Rule 5 Draft has changed since Branch Rickey plucked the future Hall of Famer and baseball icon from the Brooklyn Dodgers’ system in 1954. The rules and format have evolved over time, and few players picked in the Rule 5 Draft go on to make a significant impact, if they even remain with the selecting team throughout the following season.

? History of the Rule 5 Draft

But the annual selection process is still an opportunity for teams to find hidden gems and acquire talent. Here’s a look at the Pirates’ Major League Rule 5 Draft picks over the last 50 years.

1984: Mets C Junior Ortiz
The Pirates didn’t make any Rule 5 Draft selections in the 1970s and made only one in the '80s: Ortiz, the backup catcher who broke into the Majors by playing nine games for Pittsburgh in 1982-83. The Pirates traded him to the Mets in June 1983 and acquired him again in the 1984 Rule 5 Draft. He went on to play 287 games for the Bucs from 1985-89, hitting .267 with five homers and 81 RBIs.

1991: Expos RHP Miguel Batista
Batista began his 18-year career by pitching one game for the Pirates on April 11, 1992. They returned him to the Expos later that month, then the versatile Batista bounced from the Marlins to the Cubs to the Expos to the Royals to the D-backs, with whom he won the 2001 World Series. His career continued for another decade with stops in Toronto, Seattle, Washington, St. Louis, New York and Atlanta.

1992: Braves 1B Mike Bell
The Pirates offered Bell back to Atlanta during Spring Training, but the Braves declined even after he played 53 games for them the previous two years. So the Bucs sent Bell to Triple-A Buffalo, where he hit just .155/.230/.340 in 32 games and never appeared in the big leagues again.

1994: Blue Jays 3B Freddy Garcia
Garcia made his MLB debut for Pittsburgh on May 2, 1995, and hit .221 with 18 homers in 173 games over parts of four seasons with the Pirates before they traded him to the Braves in September 1999.

1995: Indians OF Patricio Claudio
The Pirates returned Claudio to Cleveland before the 1996 season, when he hit .291 in 100 games for Class A Advanced Kinston. He never played in the Major Leagues.

1996: A’s OF Emil Brown
Brown hit just .205 in 196 games over parts of five seasons with the Pirates before they traded him to the Padres on July 10, 2001. He returned to the Majors as an everyday player with the Royals from 2005-07 then spent time with the A’s in ’08 and the Mets in ’09.

1997: Rangers P Melvin Brazoban
He was sent back to the Rangers and pitched two more seasons in their system but never made the big leagues.

1997: Traded cash considerations to the A’s for Cubs RHP Javier Martínez
He stuck with the Pirates to record a 4.83 ERA over 41 innings in 1998, pitched 16 games in the Minors in ’99 and moved on to the Reds' system in 2000 but didn't appear in the big leagues again.

1998: Mets LHP Scott Sauerbeck
Sauerbeck was a quality reliever from 1999-2003, especially as he put together a 2.00 ERA in 65 appearances the season after he was selected. Overall, he owned a 3.56 ERA in 341 outings for the Pirates over 4 1/2 years before the Bucs dealt him to the Red Sox in July 2003. (Even trading Sauerbeck worked out well for the Pirates. He was initially dealt along with Mike Gonzalez for Anastacio Martinez and Brandon Lyon, but Lyon’s undisclosed injury led to another trade days later: Lyon and Martinez went back to Boston with Jeff Suppan, and Gonzalez returned to Pittsburgh alongside future batting champ Freddy Sanchez.)

1999: Blue Jays RHP Brian Smith
Smith was released and re-signed on a Minor League deal, allowing him to rehab from right shoulder surgery and return to action in the Minors. He gave up five runs over three appearances for the Pirates in September 2000, although he pitched well in the Minors.

2001: Marlins SS Luis Ugueto
The Pirates picked Ugueto for the Mariners and received cash in return. He stuck with Seattle in 2002, playing in 62 games despite only making 25 plate appearances, then spent most of ’03 in Double-A. His last affiliated experience was in the Twins’ system in '07.

2002: Rockies RHP Matt Roney
The Pirates selected Roney then flipped him to the Tigers for cash considerations. He recorded a 5.45 ERA for the 119-loss Tigers in 2003, reemerged with the A’s in ’06 then was suspended in ’07.

2005: Royals RHP Victor Santos
Santos made his MLB debut for the Tigers on April 9, 2001, then he bounced through Colorado, Texas and Milwaukee before signing with Kansas City and being picked in the Rule 5 Draft a few weeks later by Pittsburgh. He put together a 5.70 ERA in 115 1/3 innings for the Pirates in '06 before spending ‘07 with the Reds and Orioles.

2006: Braves RHP Sean White
The Pirates traded White to the Mariners for cash considerations. He put together a 4.16 ERA in 105 appearances in 2007 and ’09-10.

2007: Rays RHP Evan Meek
Meek is a Rule 5 Draft success story for the Pirates, but it did not come together quickly. He struggled in nine appearances in 2008 and had to be offered back to Tampa Bay, but Pittsburgh worked out a cash deal to keep him in the system and sent him to the Minors. He was better in '09, then he was the Pirates’ lone All-Star in '10 as he posted a 2.14 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 80 innings. Meek was the first non-closer Pirates reliever to reach an All-Star Game since Mace Brown in 1938. He spent parts of 2011 and ’12 with the Pirates and returned to the Majors with the Orioles in '14, when he gave up Derek Jeter’s final hit at Yankee Stadium.

2008: Cubs LHP Donnie Veal
Veal made the 2009 Pirates’ bullpen out of camp and hung around all season in a mop-up role, posting a 7.16 ERA over 19 appearances. He started the next season in the Minors and wound up needing elbow surgery. He resurfaced with the White Sox in 2012, made 50 appearances for Chicago in ’13 then bounced from the White Sox to the Braves after the ’14 season.

2009: Marlins OF John Raynor
He cracked the Pirates’ roster in 2010 and appeared in 11 games off the bench before he was returned to the Marlins in May and released the following year.

2010: Indians SS Josh Rodriguez
He made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster in 2011 and played in seven games that April, recording his first and only hit in the Majors, only to be returned to Cleveland at the end of the month. The Pirates reacquired him two months later, but he never reached the big leagues again.

2011: Tigers SS Gustavo Nunez
Nunez was placed on the 60-day injured list due to an ankle injury and missed the entire season. Arizona claimed him off waivers in October 2012 and returned him to Detroit two months later. He wound up signing a Minor League deal with the Pirates in November 2014, but Nunez never reached the Majors.

2016: Yankees LHP Tyler Webb
The Pirates returned Webb to the Yankees at the end of Spring Training in 2017, and Webb then moved from New York to Milwaukee to San Diego and finally to St. Louis, where he put together a 3.03 ERA in 104 appearances from 2018-20.

2017: Indians RHP Jordan Milbrath
The Pirates returned Milbrath to Cleveland in late March 2018. He was traded to Miami in February 2019, reached Triple-A and signed a Minor League deal with Arizona in January 2020.

2017: Traded international slot money to Phillies for Twins RHP Nick Burdi
Philadelphia selected Burdi in the Rule 5 Draft, then Pittsburgh sent $500,000 in international bonus pool space to acquire the rehabbing right-hander. The hard-throwing reliever returned from Tommy John surgery in September 2018, missed most of 2019 due to neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, satisfied his Rule 5 requirements during the shortened 2020 season then wound up needing his second Tommy John surgery. He was designated for assignment on Nov. 1, 2020, just under three years after he was acquired, having thrown only 12 1/3 innings in the Majors for Pittsburgh.

2020: Angels RHP José Soriano; traded cash considerations to Mets for RHP Luis Oviedo
Soriano was recovering from Tommy John surgery when the Pirates selected him with the top pick in the Rule 5 Draft, and he was returned to the Angels shortly after he underwent another surgery later that season. He's now a member of the Angels' rotation, and he made 20 starts in 2024. Oviedo recorded an 8.80 ERA over 22 games in 2021 and was designated for assignment in April 2022, when the Guardians claimed him.

2022: Dodgers LHP Jose Hernandez
Hernandez pitched 50 2/3 innings with the 2023 Pirates as one of their primary lefty relievers. However, he fell out of favor in 2024, bouncing between the Majors and Minors before being designated for assignment. The Dodgers claimed him and then outrighted him off the roster.