Yankees' bold Rule 5 decision might've stolen a stud from Brewers pitching lab

The New York Yankees might have found something in their Rule 5 draft pick. No, not that Rule 5 pick, you know, the one who never threw a pitch for the club before being returned to the St. Louis Cardinals. You can forget Cade Winquest, but reliever Hansel Rincon might be a name to write down to keep in mind for the future.

The Yankees selected Rincon in the first round of the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, which works a bit differently than the MLB portion that most are familiar with (the one Winquest was a part of). Similar to the MLB side of the draft, players are eligible after four or five professional seasons, depending on the age they were when they signed their first professional contract, but players on a club's 38-man Triple-A roster are exempt.

The other major difference is that players picked in the minor league portion of the draft can be assigned to any level in the minors, and are not subject to being offered back to the former organization for any reason.

With that in mind, the Yankees don't have to worry about losing Rincon (not to be confused with St. Louis Cardinals farmhand Hancel Rincon) to his former club, the Milwaukee Brewers. That's good news because Rincon is turning heads down in High-A for the Hudson Valley Renegades.

Hansel Rincon represents the kind of bullpen dart throws the Yankees should be taking

The Brewers are known for their ability to develop pitchers, but they didn't have much of a chance to work with Rincon. They had just signed him a month prior to losing him in last December's Rule 5 Draft.

Prior to that, Rincon had been out of baseball since the close of the 2023 season. Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic, the right-hander had spent three years with the Arizona Diamondbacks, appearing in the Dominican Summer League, the Arizona Complex League, and finally made one two-inning appearance at Double-A.

Now with the Yankees, Rincon is showing off some serious heat, reaching 97 miles per hour on the gun, and catching some eyes with a 1.59 ERA over his first 5 2/3 innings of work. The downside is he's also been wild at times, walking 6.35 batters per nine.

Still just 23 years old, Rincon possibly has some untapped potential, and now with a team that's been very successful at developing minor league arms, there's a possibility that the Yankees have stumbled upon something. It will take time to tell for sure.

The strategy of finding undervalued minor league arms like Rincon and the more advanced Yovanny Cruz is an excellent way for New York to build a pipeline for the bullpen, and a much less painful path than spending actual assets to try and build up guys with good stuff but problematic results up at the big league level (see: Jake Bird, Angel Chivilli, and others).

The chances of Rincon amounting to anything are slim, but even if he quickly flames out, the Yankees lost nothing other than the $24,500 it cost to pick him. If he becomes a future bullpen piece, he'll be a massive steal. At the very least, we'll take some minor league pitching depth at a discount.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow