A year after landing Brad Keller, Royals unable to repeat success in Rule 5 draft
The first player to throw a pitch for the Royals this season arrived in Kansas City via a unique route. Brad Keller was plucked from the Rule 5 draft, a long shot turned opening day starter in one year’s time.
The encore: 0 for 2.
With the promotion of Homer Bailey to the big-league rotation Wednesday, the Royals designated Rule 5 pick Chris Ellis for assignment.
The Royals had acquired Ellis from the St. Louis Cardinals during the Rule 5 draft at the winter meetings, along with Sam McWilliams. Both are now off the roster. Per the Rule 5 regulations, the Royals must expose Ellis to waivers and then relinquish him back to the Cardinals if he’s unclaimed.
“The problem you have is you’re out of options with Rule 5 picks,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “There is no flexibility. None whatsoever.”
The Royals would have had to keep Ellis on the major-league roster through the entire season in order to retain his services, as they did with Keller in 2018. But Keller represents more of the exception than the rule.
Ellis made his MLB debut Saturday, completing a scoreless inning, walking one and giving up one hit. He had a 9.00 ERA during spring training.
“We wanted to try to extend it as much as we could with the timeline,” Yost said. “We liked his stuff. A little inconsistent with command, but we really liked his stuff. Had reports of a really good curveball from this winter. We wanted to give it every opportunity we could and give it a full look.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2019 at 12:27 PM with the headline "A year after landing Brad Keller, Royals unable to repeat success in Rule 5 draft."