Astros add slew of new pitching prospects in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft

While the Houston Astros appear to be deep in Kyle Tucker trade talks, there is other business to attend to at the Winter Meetings, as the Rule 5 Draft has finally arrived. The event allows for teams to select prospects from other teams that are not on their 40-man rosters and who have been in the minor leagues for 4-5 years, depending on how old they were when they signed.

The Astros had a number of prospects of note eligible to be stolen in the Rule 5, including Miguel Ullola and Alex Santos II, as the only roster move Houston made to protect a player from selection was adding Colton Gordon to the 40-man back in November.

While Houston decided not to make any picks during the major league portion of the Rule 5, nor did they lose anyone there, they did dip into the waters a bit during the minor-league portion (where prospects lower than Triple-A could be picked) and nabbed some interesting arms.

Astros add Julio Rodriguez (no, not the Seattle one), Jean Pinto, Anderson Bido, Jack Blomgren, and Nick Swiney in Rule 5 Draft in minor league shakeup

On the surface, these are not moves that are likely to make a huge difference for the Astros in 2025, as none of these guys are even in Triple-A at the moment. However, Houston did well to take the opportunity to add some talented arms for cheap in the hope that at least one could end up being a steal down the road.

Rodriguez is a relief prospect coming off a strong season in Double-A with the Giants, where he showed some nice swing and miss stuff and could factor into Houston's bullpen plans relatively soon. Pinto was actually putting a nice little career together down in the minor leagues through 2023 as a starter and is just 23 years old, but he is recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Bido is a reliever who is coming off one of his best seasons in 2024 and seems to pound the strike zone, although he doesn't appear to get the strikeout numbers you would prefer from a bullpen arm. Swiney, by way of the Giants, does have a history of getting guys to whiff, but he also just posted a 5.25 ERA in 2024, which is not ideal. The only position player Houston took was Blomgren, who is a former fifth-round pick shortstop with no power to speak of, but who did post an .829 OPS last season thanks to his high-level ability to get on base.

In short, the Astros didn't lose any players in the Rule 5 Draft and they added a bunch of pitching depth. All in all a very good day's work.

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