For those unaware of the date, the MLB Rule 5 draft will take place during the upcoming Winter Meetings on Dec 14th, 2017. There isn’t a team out that wouldn’t like to land an elite player through this draft.
Maybe the next Johan Santana, as the Twins did in 1999. Or maybe it could be the next Jose Bautista (2003), Josh Hamilton and Joakim Soria (2006), Ender Inciarte (2012) or Delino Deshields (2014).
However, the truth of the matter is that for the vast majority of the selections made, few ever make a significant impact on the MLB club, let alone become an elite caliber player.