The Rule 5 Draft Protection Date Is Upon Us - Is There Anyone The Brewers Will Protect?

[Spencer Michaelis]

Image courtesy of Brian Fitzpatrick

The Rule 5 Draft is on December 10th, but the deadline to protect players from the draft is November 18th. 

Unlike recent offseasons, there are no surefire additions for the Brewers, and there may not even be any coin-flip options. There are three pitchers and one position player who can at least make a case, though.

The four players with cases are among the 31 eligible players to be selected this year. The complete list is available in our forums, along with a more detailed explanation of what makes a player eligible for selection in the draft.

Brewers fans are well aware of the dangers of leaving a player unprotected, as they witnessed one of their prospects become the number one selection in last year's draft, and proceeded to watch the previously mentioned Shane Smith pitch his way to an All-Star appearance, or at least a "White Sox need an All-Star" appearance, in his debut season.

Following the addition of Coleman Crow to the 40-man roster last week, keeping him from minor league free agency, the Brewers currently have 38 of the 40 spots filled. Thus, they could add two players to the roster without any additional moves, but the question is whether they will feel the need to do so with any of the 31 eligible players.

None of these four players has as strong a case as Smith or Chad Patrick had in 2024, but they do all have a case. 

Pitchers:

LHP Brian Fitzpatrick
The Brewers used their tenth-round selection on Brian Fitzpatrick in 2022, drafting him out of Rutgers. Having spent time in a starter's role and a relief role in the past, all of Fitzpatrick's appearances in 2025 were out of the bullpen, though many were of the multi-inning variety.

After returning to High-A to begin the season, Fitzpatrick was quickly pushed to Double-A in 2025. In 34 ⅔ innings, he posted an impressive 1.82 ERA, to go along with a 2.99 FIP. He struck out 28.6% of batters in Biloxi, and only walked 7.5% of them. He was promoted again to Triple-A, where his first outing was a significant struggle, as he allowed six earned runs in one inning. However, in the final 17 ⅔ innings of his season that followed, he had a 4.08 ERA and a 3.78 FIP. His numbers aren't what land him on this list, though. It's his repertoire and his build that are most intriguing. 

A true five-pitch pitcher, Fitzpatrick can keep hitters on their toes, especially in shorter stints. He throws a two-seam fastball and a four-seam fastball in the 92-94 MPH range, reaching back for 95 at times. This was a velocity jump for him from having sat 90-92 in the past. He also mixes in a short slider in the mid-80s and a bigger sweeper in the upper-70s. His best pitch is his 82-84 MPH changeup, which he averages around 17 inches of run on.

Standing 6'7" and generating about the same amount of extension from the left side, Fitzpatrick has qualities that are likely to be intriguing to big league organizations. Will it be enough to protect him? Likely not, but there is enough here not to rule it out.

Likelihood of protection: 15%

RHP Will Childers
Childers is a legacy of the Brewers, as his father, Matt, was a Brewers draft pick in 1997 and debuted for the Brewers in 2002. Will was an undrafted signing after the 2022 draft after attending the University of Georgia, where he spent the majority of his time injured after a strong freshman season. He didn't appear in his first professional games until June of 2023 as he continued to rehab.

After 38 ⅔ innings of 2.33 ERA and 3.08 FIP pitching in Double-A, Childers didn't see the same success in Triple-A. His 4.50 ERA looks respectable, but the 6.07 FIP tells a different story. You don't have to look much further than three of the more important stats to see why FIP is low on him. His strikeout rate went from 30.9% in Biloxi to 18.4% in Nashville. His walk rate went up from an already high 11.2% to 15.8% after the promotion. Beyond that, he also allowed an unsavory 1.38 home runs per nine innings, nearly double the 0.70 number he had posted in Biloxi.

Like Fitzpatrick, Childers has a deep repertoire for a reliever, and like Fitzpatrick, it's not his results that warrant him a look. His main fastball is a four-seam, which tends toward the "cut/carry" profile, thrown in the 95-97 MPH range and reaching 99. His sinker is a dead-zone shape thrown in a similar velocity band, though the movement appears to be late, helping the pitch play better than the overall shape would suggest. He throws a cutter in the upper 80s, but it can blend into a shorter slider at times. It's a pitch that could use some sharpening, but it shows signs of being above average. Childers also throws a curveball in the 82-84 MPH range, with sharp, downward bite.

Based on his struggles in Triple-A and his injury history, he seems unlikely to be protected, but his pure stuff and the impressive showing in Double-A do give him a fighter's chance.

Likelihood of protection: 10%

RHP Blake Holub
Holub was acquired from the Tigers for Mark Canha following the 2023 season. There are similarities to Childers with Holub. His walk rate in Triple-A was 16.8%, and he has a cut/carry fastball, though Holub's has a lot more true cut, and is even classified as a cutter. Holub struggled in his first taste of Triple-A in 2024 as well.

His overall numbers in 2025 were strong. He had a 3.70 ERA and a 3.54 FIP, brought along by a 29.1 whiff-rate and striking out 28.6% of batters faced. The walk rate was a problem for him, but the contact quality was weak, which, when combined with his ability to generate swing and miss, helped him limit runs.

Along with his interesting cutter, which he throws in the 93-95 MPH range and can reach 97 with, Holub throws his slider around 43% of the time. Sitting around 85 MPH, the slider generates a lot of ground balls and has good depth to it. He rounds out his repertoire with a very rare splitter. 

Holub is already 27 years old, and he is a relief-only pitcher at this point. The Brewers are unlikely to protect a player like Holub, but he is someone that a team could view as an option to fill a relief role right away, with a little upside if they can help him limit the walks a bit more, and perhaps are willing to let him lean on the splitter a bit more often.

Likelihood of protection: 10%

Position Players

Catcher: Matt Wood -- FanGraphs #43 prospect
A fourth-round pick out of Penn State in 2022, Wood got off to a solid, if unspectacular, start in High-A this season. He was promoted to Double-A in late May, and that's when he began to really make his case. His wRC+ improved from 103 in 116 plate appearances (as well as 100 in 379 plate appearances in 2024) to an impressive 134 with Biloxi in 245 plate appearances. He hit a career-high six home runs as well.

However, the biggest reason he now has an outside chance at protection was the strides he made behind the plate. According to Baseball Prospectus, Wood went from -2.3 Catching Defense Added in 2023 to an improved 2.7 in 2024, but he jumped all the way up to 6.5 in 2025. After throwing out 20.4% of stolen base attempts in parts of three seasons in High-A, Wood threw out 27.2% of runners in Double-A. He also showed improvement in blocking and receiving.

Position players are naturally less likely to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft, as they are a bit harder to hide in the big leagues for a full season, but a team that is looking for a backup catcher could see Wood as a player on the upswing that would be worth a flier.

Likelihood of protection: 10%

Other Names of Note

RHP Yerlin Rodriguez
Rodriguez is not going to be protected; his walk rate has been over 20% each of the last two seasons in High-A, but his stuff warrants mention. He has been up to 101 MPH in his minor league career, and his slider can be a wipeout pitch for him at times. If a team is willing to take a shot on his stuff, the Brewers will likely let them take that chance.

RHP Nick Merkel
Merkel has shown a wide repertoire out of the bullpen. Mixing six pitches with all three fastball variations, two breaking balls, and a changeup. He combines that with seven feet of extension and decent command. His velocity is only in the low-90s, but a FIP of 2.94 and a bunch of average or better pitches will garner some interest. Of the players in this category, he may be the most likely to be selected, but given that he never got the call to Triple-A in 2025, he seems unlikely to be protected.

UTIL Ethan Murray
Murray is the lone position player in this section, mainly due to his Double-A performance. The former fifth-round pick posted a very strong 146 wRC+ with Biloxi, but his performance did not carry over to Triple-A, where his wRC+ was 44 in 114 plate appearances. While his average exit velocity of 89.7 MPH was above average, he lacked top-end power. Outside of making decent swing decisions, the rest of the peripheral stats were all well below average. He's a serviceable shortstop defensively and above-average at second base, capable of helping at third and in left field as well. He's unlikely to be selected and almost certainly won't be protected.

It would have to be considered an upset if anyone is protected by the Brewers this season, barring an outside acquisition, along the lines of the Oliver Dunn trade two offseasons ago. If they do protect anyone, they have to come from this group.

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Is there anyone we missed? Should anyone be protected from this group? Let us know!

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[Ro Mueller]

They just had to protect Coleman Crow early, thereby taking 60% of the materiality out of this article, didn't they. Sorry man.

And then we're selecting even later in the Rule 5 draft than last year, so we're very unlikely to grab someone.

Maybe there's a Mark Mathias 2019-type player we'll trade for on November 18  - i.e. someone that another team has a borderline protection decision on.

[igor67]

Bigger surprise with how deep the system is, would be how few players we are worried about protecting.

[Outlander]

Wouldn't expect them to add anybody and don't think anybody in the system will be taken in the major league portion of the draft.

[SF70]

36 minutes ago, igor67 said:

Bigger surprise with how deep the system is, would be how few players we are worried about protecting.

Just shows how incredible our last 4 drafts and IFA classes have been. Top system with depth galore, just about all from those aforementioned classes, of which we don’t need to protect yet.

Next year it’ll start getting tougher, although, I’m hoping to see some trades soon that can thin some of the extreme IF depth the system enjoys.

[igor67]

Part of it is also playing a lot of the young guys, so they aren't stacking up behind a bunch of guys in their 30's.

[Austin Tatious]

I really wanted to keep Crow and that’s done.  I can’t see it with anybody else from your list.   How about Yeager?

Without looking at any lists, I suspect next year might be a different story.  

[Jim Goulart]

25 minutes ago, Austin Tatious said:

How about Yeager?

Justin reached minor league free agency this past week.

[BrewerFan]

On 11/15/2025 at 11:36 AM, SF70 said:

Just shows how incredible our last 4 drafts and IFA classes have been. Top system with depth galore, just about all from those aforementioned classes, of which we don’t need to protect yet.

Next year it’ll start getting tougher, although, I’m hoping to see some trades soon that can thin some of the extreme IF depth the system enjoys.

Who are we looking at next year? Trading that is.

I'd rather do what we did with our OF and keep Mitchell, Wiemer, Frelick and Chourio and see two flame out and two hit than trade a couple.

Of course, I'm never opposed to a bigger trade like... Marte is the most obvious choice this off-season, but... even a really good SS with team control. James Woods or whoever. 

It's kinda what the Dodgers have done. They hold onto their top prospects and pick and choose who they want to trade knowing they don't have room. They also have a LOT more older players who are... not quite as effective(until Kike has a big October again). 

[SF70]

53 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Who are we looking at next year? Trading that is.

I'd rather do what we did with our OF and keep Mitchell, Wiemer, Frelick and Chourio and see two flame out and two hit than trade a couple.

Of course, I'm never opposed to a bigger trade like... Marte is the most obvious choice this off-season, but... even a really good SS with team control. James Woods or whoever. 

It's kinda what the Dodgers have done. They hold onto their top prospects and pick and choose who they want to trade knowing they don't have room. They also have a LOT more older players who are... not quite as effective(until Kike has a big October again). 

Anyone not named Made-Pena for the right upgrade to the lineup and or rotation. I want the team to do what it can, without being reckless, in an attempt to win a WS in 2026, especially with a lockout looming the following year.

Trade-deadline could be the right time to do some damage. We should know by then if we need to upgrade SS, and if the team needs a power upgrade, big-armed starter and or bullpen upgrades.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

On 11/15/2025 at 11:36 AM, SF70 said:

Just shows how incredible our last 4 drafts and IFA classes have been. Top system with depth galore, just about all from those aforementioned classes, of which we don’t need to protect yet.

Next year it’ll start getting tougher, although, I’m hoping to see some trades soon that can thin some of the extreme IF depth the system enjoys.

Agreed.  Rule 5 eligible players for next year will be: Luke Adams, Wilkens, Lara, Kuehner, Wichrowski, O'Rae, Manny Rodriguez, Hunt, Woodward, Boeve, and Birchard.  Not all of these guys will be worthy of a 40 man spot but its likely we will need to protect more than a couple.  A few key trades this offseason or at the trade deadline may be necessary so we don't lost players next offseason.

[jay87shot]

I like most of those guys, however I doubt another team drafts any of them and keeps them on the roster all year. Childers has the arm to get picked but with limited AAA experience and success I doubt he gets picked or and lasts.

[Ro Mueller]

If I understand correctly, Woodruff has until 3:00pm CST tomorrow, Tuesday to accept or reject the Qualifying Offer.

And all clubs have until the same time tomorrow, Tuesday to protect additional players from the Rule 5 Draft.

If Woodruff accepts the Qualifying Offer, one could argue that we'll be MORE likely to select a player in the Rule 5 Draft, since we'd have such an awesome rotation with Peralta, Woodruff, Misiorowski, etc. to ensure we win ~95 games. Whereas if he rejects the Qualifying Offer, we'll likely have to spend money on multiple decent MLB players to make up for his loss.

The Yankees and Twins have decisions to make on a number of MLB.com-ranked prospects (10 each), while this article from yesterday touches on at least one difficult Rule 5 decision for each team.

Worthless personal note: Unlike every GM, I'm not a fan of stashing a pitching prospect unless it's someone like starting, high velocity, Minor League-dominating Shane Smith, given that only 13 pitchers are allowed on MLB rosters. I usually look for a position player who can more safely languish as the 26th roster spot, like Jonathan Davis did for a long stretch in 2022.

[CheezWizHed]

On 11/15/2025 at 10:49 AM, igor67 said:

Bigger surprise with how deep the system is, would be how few players we are worried about protecting.

It seems that over the last 5 years or so have become far more aggressive in prospect development... pushing them up the chain faster to MLB level.  Thus, fewer prospects languish until they are forced to be added to the 40-man. 

If we were a low-ranking system with no one to add, that would be a worry.  Since we are easily seen as a top 10 system, it is probably more of an anomaly to have no one to add.  Certainly will change next year... 

[Joseph Zarr]

I tell you, if Wild Pitches; Walks; HB's with a sprinkling of occasionally magnificent sliders and the seldom lights out 1-2-3 outing touching 99-101 on the gun was a coveted skill set...Yerlin Rodriguez would be the first person protected in all of MLB. As is, he remains our coveted untamable wild stallion.

[CheeseheadInQC]

13 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I tell you, if Wild Pitches; Walks; HB's with a sprinkling of occasionally magnificent sliders and the seldom lights out 1-2-3 outing touching 99-101 on the gun was a coveted skill set...Yerlin Rodriguez would be the first person protected in all of MLB. As is, he remains our coveted untamable wild stallion.

Someone, I think Longenhagen, had posited in 2024 that Rodriguez and Quinton Low seemed headed toward being protected this year. If only things had turned out that way.

[Joseph Zarr]

23 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Someone, I think Longenhagen, had posited in 2024 that Rodriguez and Quinton Low seemed headed toward being protected this year. If only things had turned out that way.

They certainly showed tantalizing glimmers to provoke such dreaming. But, as for now at least, it has been merely daydreaming on what could be IF. Yerlin has simply teased me one too many times to be fooled into thinking he's anything more than a one or two week wonder a Minor League season player. There's a reason he keeps getting opportunity after opportunity despite his absurdly wild tendencies: his raw talent is insanely good. Low, unfortunately, just can't stay healthy for any stretch of time. We haven't seen him pitch since early August of 2023 (!!) and when we last saw him (likely playing through nagging issues) he surrendered runs in 9 of his last 11 outings - hitting 3, walking 23, and K'ng 34 over those 26 1/3 IP. Like Yerlin, tho, when you have that caliber of raw goods you are going to get every chance before the wheels completely fall off.

 

[BrewerFan]

23 hours ago, SF70 said:

Anyone not named Made-Pena for the right upgrade to the lineup and or rotation. I want the team to do what it can, without being reckless, in an attempt to win a WS in 2026, especially with a lockout looming the following year.

Trade-deadline could be the right time to do some damage. We should know by then if we need to upgrade SS, and if the team needs a power upgrade, big-armed starter and or bullpen upgrades.

I don't want to trade Adamczewski, Pratt(60 field, 60 arm)... 

I could easily envision a future with Chourio in LF/Pena in CF with his 70 speed and a big arm/Frelick in RF
Made at 3B/Pratt at SS/Turang at 2B/Adams, Wilken, Fischer, Burke at 1B... and then Catcher is more up in the air with Dinges and Quero. Dinges after that horrific illness going into his Jr year at FSU... which caused him to DH looks like he may be legit, but... he's your backup next year. 

Plus I think among those players only Adams may be rule 5 eligible next year. 

 

But I guess it depends. I'd certainly trade Pratt for a year of Skubal. That'd never get it done, but... I'd be hesitant to go too much further... 

I really can't think of a player beyond one of the top... 3-4 pitchers that would improve our odds more than keeping together our own young core, but without a specific player, it's difficult to suggest a player. 

 

I'd be too scared to trade for someone like Gore to add to this rotation. Get 1 year out of him, pay a premium for the 2 years and... who knows what '27 looks like? Like the 2020 season? 

[BrewerFan]

7 hours ago, Ro Mueller said:

Worthless personal note: Unlike every GM, I'm not a fan of stashing a pitching prospect unless it's someone like starting, high velocity, Minor League-dominating Shane Smith, given that only 13 pitchers are allowed on MLB rosters. I usually look for a position player who can more safely languish as the 26th roster spot, like Jonathan Davis did for a long stretch in 2022.

I just look at some of those arms that throw 100+ and I'd be tempted to get as many as I could, see if the Brewers could work with them. 

Uribe was that type of reliever pretty recently. Maybe it's an irrational belief in the Brewers Pitching Development... which I guess also means trusting them to figure out who to claim. 

Incidentally, I was curious why I didn't see the Shane Smith thread as much... and then I see after struggling badly in July, he finished... very strong. 

Ah well. No used crying over... Shane Smith. Plus, in the Brewers defense and ignoring Connor Thomas, Chad Patrick looks like he can be an excellent starter and I still believe in Tobias Myers. It seems like these guys just keep improving. 

[Spencer Michaelis]

As expected, in my opinion, nobody else will be protected, per Adam McCalvy:

 

[Joseph Zarr]

2 hours ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

As expected, in my opinion, nobody else will be protected, per Adam McCalvy:

 

Given the greater context of the players up for protection (their current career contexts) and the roster as is, this is the right move by my eyes. Honestly, after last year's snafu (IMHO), this was a nice fairly easy protection process and I think they absolutely got it right. 

[Joseph Zarr]

I am in early after these decisions to say: I wouldn't mind in the least if the Brewers took a flier on the Twins'  RHP C.J. Culpepper. The Twins didn't protect him. He's had some injury issues the past year plus. He likely fatigued by season's end (at least that's how I explain his final month) but, man, he has tools for days and has an understanding of mix. The Brewers love their fastballs and he has three including their coveted cutter.

[duewizard]

Get back Jadher! (Edit: Didnt even see he was protected. Good for him!)

In all seriousness, I always like taking a pitcher in the R5. If it doesn't work out, you can ship him back by mid-April. If it does, you can hit biiiiiig. Cohen, Murphy or Burkhalter could be interesting

[Ro Mueller]

Noting some of the highest ranked (MLB.com rankings for each club) players not added to MLB rosters and thus available in the Rule 5 Draft on December 10th:

• OF Yohendrick Pinango – 7
• P Brandon Birdsell – 9
• P Henry Lalane – 9
• OF Victor Arias – 9
• P Brock Selvidge – 10
• P Jagger Haynes – 10
• C Daniel Susac – 11
• P Blake Burkhalter – 11
• SS Cristian Hernandez – 11
• P Brendan Beck – 11
• SS Josh Kasevich – 12
• C Edward Duran – 13
• P Mason Adams – 13
• P Alimber Santa – 13
• P Felix Arronde – 13
• P Peyton Pallette – 14
• OF Miguel Bleis – 15

[nate82]

Susac being unprotected is a big surprise.  Probably goes #1 and he should be able to fill in as a backup catcher and not cost a team a roster spot.  This is a head scratching move by the A’s.  I am not sure what they are doing here.  I would be shocked if he doesn’t get picked early.