With Tuesday’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft past, the Blue Jays have a number of players who could be selected by other teams when the draft takes place on December 11th.

If you aren’t familiar with the Rule 5 Draft, it goes like this. Players who have completed four (if signed at age 19 or older) or five (18 or younger) Minor League seasons without being added to their club’s 40-man roster are eligible for the draft. Teams that don’t have full 40-man rosters can select players that don’t appear on other clubs’ 40-man rosters for $100,000 a piece.  These players are then placed on the new club’s 26-man active roster, and can only be sent down to the Minors after passing through waivers, and after being offered back to their original club for $50,000. There is also a MiLB portion as well.

The draft is in reverse order of the previous year’s standings, just like the first-year player draft. Ten players were selected in last year’s draft, with the Cleveland Guardians’ selection of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Deyvison De Los Santos being the most noteworthy. De Los Santos’ Guardians career was short-lived, as he failed to crack the Opening Day lineup, passing through waivers and returning to the Diamondbacks. The Dominican third basemen smashed 40 home runs between Double-A and Triple in 2024, ultimately getting traded to Miami as the centrepiece of the A.J. Puk trade at the deadline.

By not adding anybody to their 40-man roster, the Blue Jays have left several promising players available for other clubs. Last year, the team protected lefthanded pitcher Adam Macko by adding him to their 40-man roster. This year’s decision could have been made to free up roster room for some yet-to-be-signed free agents. Here are the top three players that could see themselves poached come December 11th.

The Blue Jays have been content with slowly moving the 25-year-old through their system, having him start the year at single-A Dunedin before a call-up to high-A Vancouver in 2024. Shortly after twirling a seven-inning no-hitter, the Havana, Cuba native got the call-up to double-A, having registered a sub 2.00 ERA and sub 1.00 WHIP on the year in Vancouver. His numbers weren’t quite as dominant in New Hampshire, posting a 4.47 ERA and 1.26 WHIP, although he did strike out more than a batter an inning. Estrada showed out in the Arizona Fall League this past month, earning an All-Star selection after posting a 0.94 WHIP while striking out a whopping 19 batters through 11.2 innings pitched.

There is hope that he could stick in the rotation, but a team may also see potential as a reliever, which is how he was deployed in three of his four AFL outings.

Advancing the righthander slowly through their system may benefit the Blue Jays, as it is less likely that a team will trust a player with only 11 games at the double-A level to stay on their roster all season. Could they have held him back intentionally to prevent him from being selected? Unlikely, as the club could have used the pitching help in the upper minors this tear. Furthermore, if the Jays were truly worried about losing him, they would have added him to their 40-man roster.

Few would consider Clarke to be of prospect status for the Blue Jays. The 26-year-old has slowly worked his way through the system, with injuries limiting him to 79 games in 2024. 50 of those games came after a promotion to triple-A Buffalo, where he slashed .230/.352/.323. That slash line is a microcosm of what Clarke has settled into in his pro career: a catcher with a good enough hit tool and keen eye at the plate, but lacking power.

The Atlanta, Georgia native has just 21 home runs through 350 Minor League games, yet has a career OBP of .361. His 14.0% BB rate at Buffalo in 2024 was almost on par with his strikeout rate (14.5%).

The former Vanderbilt Commodore is more of an average defender behind the plate, with 2024 possibly representing a step backward. Across double-A and triple-A, he threw out just 7 runners in 87 stolen base attempts (8.0%), while allowing eight passed balls. He ended up playing 15 games at first base while DHing in 16 games. If another Major League team thinks he can be an average defender behind the plate, they may feel confident that his on-base skills will make him a useful backup catcher in the big leagues.

After a successful 20-game stretch in triple-A Buffalo to end the 2023 campaign, the Surrey, B.C. native was excellent in the Arizona Fall League, mashing six homers while producing a .941 OPS. There was optimism that he could make his Major League debut during the 2024 season but the Jays used a variety of other infielders instead following the trade deadline sell-off.

Starting the year in Buffalo, the corner infielder (and occasional outfielder) slashed just .210/.311/.381 through 123 games. His power numbers were down from previous seasons, although he still did knock 19 balls over the fence and finished the year with 21 total – leading all Blue Jays minor leaguers. He also suffered from some bad luck on balls in play, registering a .261 BABIP on the year. Another positive going forward is that his walk rate stayed above 10%, giving him a solid on-base floor. There’s a chance that a team selects him with the hope that he can put it all together in 2025.

Probably not. Estrada, Clarke and Palmegiani are all intriguing prospects, but inexperience will make it tough to rely on any of the three staying on a 26-man roster all season. However, the risk is fairly low to see if one of them could emerge as a Major League regular. As we saw with De Los Santos last year, don’t rule out the possibility that even if a player is selected, we could still see them return to the Blue Jays organization in 2025.