MLB Rule 5 Draft Explained

The 2019 edition of MLB's Rule 5 Draft won't take place until Dec.12, but the deadline for teams to submit their 40-man rosters is Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET.

Their are a plethora of confounding variables in its blueprint, so let's dive into a meticulous examination as to what exactly the Rule 5 Draft is.

What is the Rule 5 Draft?

The Draft is held annually on the last day of the MLB's Winter Meetings. Essentially, the only players eligible to be selected are minor leaguers not currently on their team's big league roster and who have been a part of their organization for either four or five years.

Not every club is compelled to draft, but those that do elect to dabble must cough up $100,000 to the organization from which that player was selected.

This is where things get tricky. Draftees are required to spend the following campaign on the active 25-man roster, and in order for selected players to be detached from the 25-man roster during that same season they must be placed on waivers.

If a particular player clears waivers, it's mandatory that he's offered back to the previous team for $50,000. However, he can only be sent back to the minor league ranks if his original organization doesn't want to reclaim him.

Take a deep breath, folks, because that was a lot to take in.

It's thoroughly complicated, but the bottom line is that clubs should add their top prospects to the 40-man roster ahead of the deadline to prevent the risk of losing them in the draft.