Kansas City Royals: Rule 5 draftee Sam McWilliams brings high upside

The Kansas City Royals selected Sam McWilliams in the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings. Who is McWilliams and what can Royals fan expect, if anything?

This past season, perhaps the highlight of the Kansas City Royals‘ campaign for Dayton Moore was the acquisition of pitcher Brad Keller in the Rule 5 Draft. Unprotected by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Keller was selected by the Reds with the sixth pick int the draft and was traded to the Royals for cash considerations.

What is the Rule 5 Draft anyway? In short, after signing an amateur player, the organization has  a specific time frame the player must be elevated to the 40 man roster or they are considered eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft.

Any team first must have fewer than 40 members on their 40-man roster in order to select a player. Any team selecting a player in the Rule 5 draft must keep that player on their active, major league roster for the entire duration of the upcoming (2019) season or be offered back to the original team.

Last year, the Royals acquired Brad Keller and Burch Smith during the Rule 5 portion of the draft. Keller appears entrenched as a starter and hopefully will be a building block for an organization working developing into a contender.

Burch Smith was released this November after an ugly 2018 season culminating in a 6.92 ERA. The Royals can thank the Rule 5 draft for Joakim Soria and the production he provided over the years. The most successful Rule 5 selection of all time goes to the Pittsburgh Pirates when they selected outfielder Roberto Clemente.

The Royals chose a tall right handed pitcher in Sam McWilliams in the Rule 5 draft. Control issues (3.6 walks per nine innings last season at AA) and a knack for giving up home runs (13 in 100 innings at AA in 2018) have hindered his progress. However, his development of a change up to go with a fastball and slider made him an attractive option to take a flyer on for a Royals organization stuck between competing and rebuilding.

JJ Cooper of Baseball America had this to say about the new Royals pitcher

"McWIlliams has already been traded twice. A Phillies draft pick, he was shipped to Arizona in the Jeremy Hellickson trade and then was one of the players to be named acquired by the Rays in last offseason’s three-team Steven Souza–Brandon Drury trade. McWilliams is a big (6-foot-7) righthander who has always had a firm fastball (90-94 mph) and a solid slider, but he’s been improving his changeup to the point where it’s a viable third pitch. His stats at Double-A Montgomery were hurt by a ballooning home run rate, but at his best he shows the traits of a back-of-the-rotation starter."

The Royals are certainly hoping they are able to clean up some of the delivery and control issues that have thus far plagued his career. If nothing else, McWilliams provides a low cost, long-term controlled arm in the bullpen for the future.

Sam McWilliams minor league stats

At the conclusion of the draft, the Royals swung a trade, acquiring right handed pitcher Chris Ellis, from the Rangers whom had selected him from the Cardinals organization.

Entering the day, the Royals had 38 players on their 40-man roster, so the acquisitions of Ellis and McWilliams does fill their current roster. Should the Royals want to sign any free agents the remainder of this offseason, a player will have to be removed from the 40-man roster to do so.

JJ Cooper of Baseball America has this report on new pitcher Chris Ellis

"Acquired by the Cardinals in 2016’s Jaime Garcia trade, Ellis has bounced between starting and relieving and he’s bounced between being a finesse pitcher and more of a power arm. His velocity has spiked into the mid-90s when working out of then bullpen but his slider is not the swing-and-miss pitch scouts expected it to develop into. Ellis is durable and he’s tamed some of the control problems he faced earlier in his career. He went 10-4, 3.93 with a 1.17 WHIP in 2018."

Chris Ellis minor league stats

The Royals however did lose a player in the Rule 5 draft. The Toronto Blue Jays selected right handed pitcher Elvis Luchiano, the main piece in the return from the John Jay trade last season.

Interesting that the Blue Jays would select a player that will be 19 when the Major League season starts and has not yet pitched above A Ball. If the Blue Jays don’t put and keep him on their major league roster for the entire season he must be offered back to the Royals.

Elvis Luciano minor league stats

The Kansas City Royals added a couple very interesting pieces to their roster during the Rule 5 Draft. Maybe they’ve found a couple more diamonds in the rough like Brad Keller.