5 players Royals can rescue in Rule 5 Draft, 3 they can steal from contenders

If baseball fans think the amateur draft is a spin of the roulette wheel, then that applies doubly so to the Rule 5 Draft each winter.

Kansas City has unearthed some solid selections over the years, but the hit rate for a big-league contributor is low. Teams will enter the 2025 iteration with the hopes of finding an All-Star, like the Chicago White Sox did with Shane Smith last year.

But carrying a Rule 5 pick for the entire season is easier for a team with nothing on the line. For a team like the Kansas City Royals, the margin for error is slimmer.

No team should enter the Rule 5 Draft hoping to find an Opening Day starter or future 40-bomb hitter, but rather hope for a supplementary piece to round out the roster. A low-leverage reliever, a pinch-running savant, a defensive replacement, something in that frame.

We already named seven Rule 5 targets that would make sense for the Royals, but in such a wide pool of prospects, there are more the team could target in December.

With the 2025 Rule 5 Draft now a week away, here are eight more names to watch and why they are ready for a jump to the Royals roster.

5 players Royals can rescue in Rule 5 Draft, 3 they can steal from contenders

RHP Zach McCambley - Miami Marlins

Rule 5 Draft prospects are usually left unprotected for a reason, some sort of wart or flaw keeping them from the 40-man roster. But pitcher Zach McCambley doesn't have that red flag that waves during the eye test, and the statline scouting is a beauty compared to much of the Rule 5 field.

McCambley, a collegiate teammate of former Royals pitcher Anthony Veneziano, is a former starter who made the bullpen move look all too easy.

The Miami Marlins certainly hoped he would be a starter when drafting him 75th overall in the 2020 MLB Draft, but he looked like a solid future Marlins reliever. He missed the second half of the 2024 season, but made quick work of Double-A in 2025 and pitched 40.2 innings in Triple-A in 2025. He posted a 3.32 ERA and 2.98 FIP at that level, and the surrounding metrics are obviously glowing.

McCambley still has an expanded arsenal for a reliever, with three plus pitches and effective command. His cutter and slider combo, two such pitches, were very effective in 2025 and stood front and center in an immaculate inning from this past season.

McCambley looks like a big-league reliever, pure and simple. His chances of being selected feel high this winter, and it will be curious what Kansas City does if he is still available when their pick comes around.

OF Braiden Ward - Boston Red Sox

It seems that most Rule 5 picks will have a carrying trait that translates to the big leagues without question. Former Royals pitcher Matt Sauer did a lot of things well enough, but nothing so spectacular that Kansas City kept him around for the whole season.

If Kansas City goes the position player route, a player will likely stick around if they are great in the field or on the basepaths. Looking at what Kansas City could use in this field, a sensible candidate is outfielder Braiden Ward.

Ward has never been a highly regarded prospect in the Colorado Rockies system, but he has never posted a below-average wRC+ in his five professional seasons and gets on base plenty while lacking extra-base pop.

Ward only had two home runs last season, after posting a career-high seven in 2024. What he does best, though, is steal bases, with 211 in 414 career games. He has three seasons of at least 50 stolen bases in the last four campaigns, with 57 in 97 games last season.

Ward doesn't have great expected numbers at the Triple-A level, but his speed and glove in the outfield seem big-league ready. The Rockies traded Ward to the Boston Red Sox this offseason, but the AL East team did not protect him before the deadline.

"But Kansas City already has Tyler Tolbert." Fair!

But Tolbert, who has options remaining and can play multiple positions, would benefit more from playing every day in Triple-A Omaha rather than riding the bench for his pinch-running opportunities. Ward has more stolen bases in his career as well, and Prospect Savant grades Ward faster than Tolbert, for what it is worth.

If Kansas City gets a marginal upgrade in their pinch runner, one that can play the outfield and second base as well, then it is worth evaluating.

RHP Peyton Pallette - Chicago White Sox

The Royals have had their fair share of second-round picks that haven't met expectations in recent years. 2019's Brady McConnell comes to mind, while the jury is still out on 2021's Peyton Wilson and 2022's Cayden Wallace.

These high draft picks are never guaranteed things, and the same applies to the man the Chicago White Sox drafted 62nd overall in 2022, pitcher Peyton Pallette. It was a gamble drafting the Arkansas pitcher after he underwent Tommy John surgery earlier that same year.

Pallette struggled as a starter through his first two professional seasons, with decent strikeout numbers but struggles limiting runs. The White Sox moved him quickly to the bullpen, with his last start coming in June 2024. Those starting struggles were easy to forget when Pallette went to the relief corps and was one of the best minor-league relievers.

Pallette has 103 innings pitched in relief, ranging anywhere from 0.1 to 2.0 innings in a game. The results were very even, though, with a 2.97 ERA and 2.98 FIP in that body of work across Double-A and Triple-A.

His 33.3% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate put him right in the sweet spot for the reliever and made him seem like a shoo-in for a September call-up for Chicago's poor-performing bullpen. But not only did that not come, Chicago left Pallette unprotected from the Rule 5 Draft despite having six open spots on the 40-man roster.

It was a surprising move to many White Sox fans, and a mistake that other teams can capitalize upon.

Pallette has two plus pitches, a curveball that induces bad contact and a changeup that handles lefties with a 50.8% whiff rate in Triple-A. His overall 34.1% whiff rate ranked in the 85th percentile among Triple-A pitchers and largely fueled his 29.7% strikeout rate since his promotion.

He doesn't outperform his expected numbers by a wide margin, fueling more speculation that Pallette is ready for an MLB jump.

RHP Matt Pushard - Miami Marlins

Another Marlins pitcher, Matt Pushard is a big-bodied righty reliever who is entering his age-28 season. An undrafted free agent, Pushard has been a bullpen arm from the word go in his professional career.

Not reaching Low-A until his age-25 season really put Pushard behind the eight ball, but his 2025 in Triple-A shows a possible late bloomer in the relief corps.

Pushard largely leans on a four-seam fastball/curveball combo, the latter being his best pitch according to stuff models. He has a slider to bridge the gap between the two pitches. The Maine alum has good enough command to cause batters to chase, with his 33.97% chase rate ranking in Triple-A's 96th percentile. His fastball doesn't break triple digits but has above-average movement and averaged 95.1 MPH this past season.

Pushard isn't flashy, but if he were in the Royals organization, Kansas City fans would wonder why he wasn't added to the 40-man roster to protect him. He is arguably in his physical peak right now, and with a build like Bowlan, Pushard could likely withstand the rigors of the 162-game season.

UTL Carlos Mendoza - Toronto Blue Jays / UTL Noah Mendlinger - St. Louis Cardinals

I call this duo the left-handed Loftins, because boy do they fulfill a similar role to utilityman Nick Loftin. A reunion with utilityman Adam Frazier feels more likely, but if Kansas City wants a more unproven, cost-controlled option, Carlos Mendoza and Noah Mendlinger would fit that bill.

Mendoza, an undrafted free agent in the Toronto Blue Jays system, is a primary infielder who can shift to left field if needed. He doesn't strike out much, has middling exit velocity, and doesn't have a lot of extra-base hits.

His power numbers jumped after a taste of Triple-A, but his .279/.401/.382 line in Double-A fits with his profile best. Mendoza will be 26 on Opening Day, and he feels like his ceiling is a contact-first utilityman in MLB action.

Mendlinger is a very similar profile in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He walks more than he strikes out, and his immaculate chase and whiff rates showcase a player with a good eye and bat-to-ball skills.

The ball doesn't jump off his bat, but he has good enough speed to leg out infield singles and regularly deposits the ball in front of the outfielders. Mendlinger isn't a highlight machine, but he has a good process at the plate.

OF Kyler Fedko - Minnesota Twins

Outfielder Kyler Fedko is what I would call the "Pull Air Prince." The former 12th-round pick far exceeded his draft slot's expectations in the Minnesota Twins' system, and his propensity to pull the ball is a big reason for that in 2025.

Fedko's 25% pull air rate ranked in the 85th percentile among Triple-A batters, a good ranking for his 164 at-bats at that level last year. That metric is a fairly new one, but one that shows direct correlation between generating hits and specifically home runs. A player's pull air rate takes any line drive or fly ball that the batter pulls and divides it by total batted balls. So for every three batted balls from Fedko, one of them fit this category.

It is a large reason Fedko had an .829 OPS and eight home runs in his first Triple-A foray. He had a 20-20 season by late July in Double-A, so that step up to Triple-A just made sense. He isn't a slouch on the basepaths, breaking out with a career-high 38 stolen bases in 2025.

This was the Connecticut alum's best professional season, but Minnesota still kept him unprotected. He profiles best as a left fielder, with experience all over the outfield and even some at first base.

OF José Ramos - New York Mets

After moving from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the New York Mets this offseason, outfielder José Ramos seemingly has a taste for the NL.

The Panama native already has an invite to New York's big-league camp in spring training, but there is a chance a team adds the former fringe top-30 prospect to their big-league roster in hopes his Triple-A performance was a precursor to something more.

Ramos was in the Dodgers system since 2019, but hasn't made his MLB debut yet in a fairly strong prospect pipeline. He made his Triple-A debut and tore it up, with a .916 OPS and eight home runs in 44 games. He ranked in the 70th percentile or greater in nearly every batted-ball metric, such as xwOBA (81st) and barrel rate (79th percentile).

It is a mighty small sample size, but the Mets obviously believe Ramos warrants a look alongside other big leaguers. Could the outfield-needy Royals take a chance?

This move feels somewhat unlikely, as bat-first Rule 5 Draft prospects are usually not sustainable. That is why players like Ramos, who play well enough in the field and excel at the plate, can be left unprotected without any consequences.

But the Royals need to fill some outfield spots, and Ramos can play all three outfield positions. For a front office trying to balance risk and upside in December, that alone might be enough to put his name on the shortlist.