The Rockies made a handful of moves Tuesday ahead of the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Right-handed pitchers Ryan Castellani and Justin Lawrence, infielder Josh Fuentes, and outfielder Sam Hilliard have all been added to the Rockies’ 40-man roster. In order to make room for one of those players, the Rockies designated outfielder Jordan Patterson for assignment.
The additions to the roster aren’t terribly surprising. While Castellani had a bit of a down year in Double-A, he still has the potential to be a major league starter within the next one to two years. Justin Lawrence will be bullpen depth, and Fuentes and Hilliard should both be useful role players in short order, ideally with some offensive pop. All four of the players the Rockies added to the roster are coming off of Arizona Fall League performances. You can read what they have to say about what they hope is next for them here.
Patterson is a former PuRP who saw limited action in 2016 but spent the entirety of the past two seasons in Triple-A. It’s not surprising to see the Rockies opt to let go of a guy who couldn’t crack those pretty poor offenses.
According to Rockies Roster, there are a few notable names who went unprotected. For the second consecutive season, the Rockies left catcher Dom Nuñez off the 40-man roster. His second tour of Double-A wasn’t much better than his first. The 23-year-old catcher is not likely to be selected.
Two names who very well may be snagged by another organization are Brian Mundell and Roberto Ramos. Mundell has been progressing through the minors one level at a time, and he showed good on-base ability at Double-A in 2018. Ramos split his time between Advanced A Lancaster and Double-A Hartford last season. He crushed Advanced A pitching — .304/.411/.640. While the triple slash wasn’t as great in a less friendly environment, he still had an on-base percentage of .320 and a .503 slugging average in 228 Double-A appearances.
The Rule 5 draft takes place on December 13, the final day of the Winter Meetings.