This year’s Rule 5 Draft will take place during the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida, on December 10th. The Blue Jays have several intriguing minor league players who have been left unprotected, and therefore could be snatched up by another team.

For those unfamiliar with the Rule 5 draft process, players become eligible to be selected if they haven’t been placed on their team’s 40-man roster within four seasons since being signed (if they are 19 years or older), or after five seasons if they sign at 18 or younger. Other teams can then pry them away from the original team, on the condition that the player stays on the new team’s active roster for the duration of the following season. If the team chooses to remove them from their active roster at any point, they would then be returned to their original team.

Some of the more intriguing options tend to be Latin-American players who sign at 16 years old and are still at prime prospect age after five seasons. Players who have suffered injuries that have prevented their development can also be intriguing upside candidates. Because of the need to keep the player on the active roster all year long, teams may typically go after relief pitching and position players that provide strong defence and speed, so that they may still bring value even if they don’t see a ton of starts.

In each of the past two seasons, the Blue Jays added a prospect to their 40-man roster to protect them from being selected: Adam Macko in 2023 and Rickey Tiedemann this year.

Here are three intriguing candidates from the organization that could be selected on December 10th, including a couple of highly rated prospects.

Acquired from the Cubs in the Nate Pearson trade in 2024, Pinango broke out in a big way in 2025 between Double-A and Triple-A.

After mashing with New Hampshire across 47 games (.928 OPS), the Venezuelan outfielder spent the majority of his season in Buffalo, producing a respectable .714 OPS in 84 games. Slotting in at #7 on MLB Pipeline’s ranking of top Blue Jays prospects, Pinango projects as a corner-outfielder who can get on-base at a high rate, although his over-the-fence power is still developing. He was able to knock 15 balls over the fence last year across 131 games, while showing flashes that more was in the tank.

The 23-year-old could be an intriguing addition for a rebuilding team that can afford to have him on its roster all year. Speed and defense are not huge pluses with his game, but his bat-to-ball skills and patient approach (13.1 BB%) should result in him developing into a starter in the coming years. The decision not to add the stocky outfielder to their 40-man roster may prove to be a choice that the Blue Jays end up regretting down the road.

Arias is another outfielder who could find himself selected, even though he has a very different profile compared to the aforementioned Pinango.

For one, Arias has only made it up to Double-A ball, playing just 36 games there last year. Injuries prevented his development from 2022-24, failing to play a full season and only getting a taste of the high-A level. However, he stayed healthy in 2025, thriving as a leadoff man for Vancouver while producing an .818 OPS across 66 games. This earned him a mid-season call-up to New Hampshire, but the production wasn’t quite the same (.624 OPS). The lack of experience alone makes it unlikely that he’s selected, but his tools may give him an outside shot.

Arias is a fantastic defensive center fielder and also shows the potential of being a consistent base stealer. He swiped 18 bags (in 23 attempts) across his 102 games in 2025. If a team falls in love with the 22-year-old’s potential, they may choose to ‘stash’ him on their bench, where he’d receive inconsistent playing time while providing plus outfield defense and on the basepaths.

Jennings represents an intriguing option that has an outside chance of being selected. After being drafted in the fourth round in 2022 out of Louisiana Tech, the six-foot right-hander spent his first couple of years in the organization as a starting pitcher.

Midway through the 2024 season, he converted to the bullpen despite success toeing the slab as a starter. He explained the series of events that led to that decision when he spoke with Blue Jays Nation last year. After an electric ten relief appearances with New Hampshire, he kept it going in the Arizona Fall League, pitching nine scoreless games to end his season.

Things weren’t as rosy in 2025, spending the majority of his time in Buffalo but struggling mightily with walks (7.3 BB%), easily the worst mark of his pro career. The good news is that his fastball-slider-splitter combo continued to baffle hitters whenever he could locate it in the zone, striking out 13.5 batters per nine with the Bisons. If the 26-year-old can correct his command issues, he has the raw stuff to become an above-average major league reliever. There could be a team out there that falls in love with the swing and miss arsenal – while also projecting better batted ball luck (.388 BABIP) – and conclude that Jennings is worth a gamble to see if he puts it all together in spring training.