The Rule 5 Draft happens every offseason in MLB and in December the Chicago Cubs lost starting pitcher Chris Clarke to the Seattle Mariners. However, with Opening Day now approaching, the Cubs got Clarke right back from the Mariners.
Seattle selected the right-handed pitcher in the major league phase of the Rule 5 Draft, meaning if they wanted to keep him in their organization, then he’d have to be on the MLB active roster from the start of the season until the end of the year as long as he was healthy. It was certainly a gamble from the Mariners as Clarke, 24, was a fourth-round selection of the Cubs back in 2019, taking him 132nd overall out of college and had only reached Double-A last season.
Clarke pitched in 46 minor league games in the Cubs organization, posting a 4.26 ERA in 196.2 innings. In 2022, the right-hander made 21 starts and 26 appearances overall, spending time in advanced A-Ball in South Bend and then at Double-A Tennessee.
Clarke finished last season with a 4.64 ERA in 120.1 innings. The 6-foot-7 righty generated a 58% ground ball rate during his 20 outings at Double-A this past year and had an average strikeout rate and low walk rate that gives you hope he can continue to get better. Clarke made seven appearances in spring training for the Mariners and ultimately didn’t make their team.
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The Cubs did have to return $50,000 of the $100,000 that they initially received from the Mariners when they first got Clarke in the Rule 5 Draft.
And as a reminder, here are the players the Cubs ended up taking in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, including Nick Burdi, who looked good in spring training. Also, a pair of players that were plucked from the Cubs farm system.
Cubs Select Pitcher Jose Aquino From Mariners
This was part of the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft. No fancy transaction rules here, select a player and he’s yours.
The Cubs selected left-handed pitcher Jose Aquino from the Mariners and well, there’s not a lot of info about him. He pitched in two games in the Mariners’ system in 2022, but does have experience playing in the DSL back in 2019 and 2021. The 20-year-old is from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Here’s a brief overview of him from Sept. 2021, from the Lookout Landing site that writes about the Mariners.
At 6-foot-3, 184 pounds, Aquino is starting to grow into his adult body and athletic markers are tantalizing. He’s got long levers and really works down the mound well. The lanky lefty touched 97 this season and worked 91-94, generating the fifth-best whiff rate in the organization at 40.5 percent. Aquino has good spin metrics and throws enough strikes as a 19-year-old to project a starting-caliber arm in the future. Seattle could potentially be aggressive with Aquino in 2022 and start him in Modesto.
Who isn’t a sucker for a hard-throwing lefty?
Cubs Select Pitcher Nick Burdi From Padres
Nick Burdi was a second-round pick of the Pirates back in 2014 out of Louisville, but it’s been a while since he’s been on the mound in live game action. The right-handed pitcher did make it up to the majors with the Pirates, appearing in 16 games from 2018-20. That came after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2017. Burdi didn’t have much success in the show and then had Tommy John surgery again in Nov. 2020.
Burdi has been a part of the Padres organization a few different times since Dec. 2020, but he hasn’t pitched since the 2020 season.
Burdi was invited to big league camp and during his time in spring training the right-hander was once again lighting up the radar gun and throwing some filth.
He pitched in six games during Cactus League play and struck out nine batters in 5.2 shutout innings. Burdi did have some control issues at times, walking six, but it’s great to see the righty back out there and looking healthy.
While Burdi isn’t making the team out of spring training, he has definitely put himself into consideration to get a call up if he stays healthy this season.
Cubs Select Outfielder Jefferson Encarnacion From Phillies
Jefferson Encarnacion is a 21-year-old outfielder who hasn’t played in the United States and hasn’t played at all since 2019 in the DSL. He’ll most likely be working with Cubs coaches in Arizona throughout 2023.
Cubs Lose Pitchers Bryan King and Luis Rodriguez to Astros
The Astros selected a pair of Cubs minor leaguers, taking lefties Bryan King and Luis Rodriguez. King, 26, began 2022 at low A-ball in Myrtle Beach and then pitched at Double-A Tennessee before an injury shut him down in July. Rodriguez, 23, has a 3.04 ERA in over 200 innings in the minors, but the highest level he’s reached has been at low A-ball, where his ERA went above four in 2022. However, he does have great strikeout numbers, 268 in 216 innings, including 106 in only 69 innings last season.
