KC Royals players who should be protected from the Rule 5 Draft this winter

With the 2024 season behind them, the Kansas City Royals are looking to retool for a competitive 2025 — and that means making some hard decisions. From choosing whether or not to exercise mutual options to deciding which players to target in free agency, the Royals have a lot to think about, and that extends to certain minor league players that they risk losing in this year's Rule 5 Draft.

The Rule 5 Draft is held every December to allow teams without a full 40-man roster to acquire certain non-40-man roster players from other franchises. Teams select players in the reverse order of the previous season's standings, and while many teams won't make a selection, those that do choose a player must pay $100,000 to the team from which he was selected.

A player becomes eligible for the Rule 5 Draft if his team has not added him to their 40-man roster after a specified number of seasons based on the player's age when initially signed. If the player was signed at age 18 or younger, he becomes eligible after five seasons of not being added to his team's 40-man roster, while players signed at age 19 or older become eligible after just four seasons.

This means that if a team wants to protect an eligible player from the Draft and potentially being selected by another club, they must add him to their 40-man roster before the winter deadline.

In the Royals' organization, there are 47 players eligible for this year's Rule 5 Draft, many of which are worth protecting. Here are the top three players — all pitchers, coincedentally — Kansas City should consider adding to the 40-man roster before the deadline.

Noah Cameron — LHP

Ranked 12th in the Royals' Top 30 Prospects, pitcher Noah Cameron's expected timeline has him debuting in the majors is 2025, according to MLB.com. As such, it doesn't make much sense for the Royals to risk losing the left-hander in the Rule 5 Draft, especially after his impressive performance in the minors this season.

In 25 starts across Double-A and Triple-A, Cameron went 7-6 with a 3.08 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and 149 strikeouts in 128.2 innings. Known for his high strikeout count, he whiffed 27.8% of batters he faced in 2024 and 28.3% in 2023, so going into spring training, the 25-year-old is a clear contender to join the Royals' starting rotation next season. Protecting him from the Draft should be a no-brainer for Kansas City.

Chandler Champlain — RHP

Another pitcher with an ETA in 2025, Chandler Champlain should expect to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft this year, despite his 2024 stats falling short of his best performance. After joining the Royals organization as part of the Andrew Benintendi trade with the New York Yankees in July 2022, Champlain proved in 2023 that he's capable of far better numbers — 3.33 ERA in 25 starts — than the ones he put up this season.

In 28 appearances (27 starts) split between Double-A and Triple-A this year, Champlain went 6-10 with a 5.07 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, and 120 strikeouts in 140.1 innings. He's ranked 16th on MLB.com's list of the Royals Top 30 Prospects with a 91-94 mph cutting fastball, upper-70s curveball, and 83-86 mph slider in his arsenal, so even though he was shaky at times this season, the 25-year-old is brimming with potential.

Luinder Avila — RHP

Unlike Cameron and Champlain, Luinder Avila's expected debut in the majors isn't until 2026 at the earliest, with the right-hander only having moved up to Triple-A at the very end of this season and battled through one shaky start. Still, Avila is the 26th-ranked prospect in the Royals' system, and despite needing further development, he's got enough potential that the team shouldn't risk him being snapped up by another club in the Rule 5 Draft.

Avila missed a large portion of 2024 due to an injury, but in the 20 starts he made across Double-A and Triple-A, he went 6-5 with a 4.14 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and 85 strikeouts. Though his scouting report comments that command is "a work in progress," Avila's pitching arsenal includes an impressive 92-95 mph fastball — which he's improved from being around 87-89 mph when he was first signed — as well as a slider and changeup that he's continuing to develop.