MLB teams select Ruta, five other ex-Thunder players in Rule 5 Draft
The lack of a Minor League Baseball season didn’t cause any shortage of picks in Thursday’s annual Rule 5 Draft.
The Yankees tied the Rays in losing seven players to other teams behind only the Dodgers, who yielded eight players in the draft.
Six of those seven former Yankees farmhands played for the Thunder: pitcher Garrett Whitlock, shortstop Kyle Holder, pitcher Trevor Stephan, pitcher Matt Wivinis, pitcher
Kaleb Ort and outfielder Ben Ruta.
The Padres selected Ruta in Round 2 of the Triple-A Phase. Other teams chose Whitlock (Red Sox), Holder (Phillies), Stephan (Indians), Wivinis (Rangers) and Ort (Red Sox). Catcher Gustavo Campero, who did not play for the Thunder, went to the Angels.
Players are eligible to be drafted by other teams each December if they are not on their current organization’s 40-man roster and have been in the system for four years (if they were 19 or older on the June 5 preceding their signing) or five years (if they were 18 or younger at that time).
Ruta, a West WindsorPlainsboro South graduate, was drafted by the Yankees in the 30th round back in 2016.
He appeared in 153 regularseason games with Trenton during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He batted .260 with eight home runs, 26 doubles, five triples and 25 stolen bases in 442 at-bats in 2019.
Ruta thanked the Yankees in a message on Twitter.
“From having one offer to play college baseball for no scholarship to being a 30th late round draft pick to the
Yankees, all you can ever ask for is a chance to prove yourself,” Ruta wrote. “Will always thank the Yankees for extending that chance to me professionally. Now time to put the head back down and get back to work. Final push to the show starts now with the Padres.”
The Thunder, of course, are no longer the Yankees’ DoubleA affiliate as the Yankees made changes to their minor league system last month.
Trenton was recently chosen to be one of the founding members of the MLB Draft League in 2021.