Rule 5 Decisions: Wrap Up

Setting you up for Decision Day

Photo Credit: Richmond Flying Squirrels

This is the twelfth — and final! — in a series focusing on the Giants’ upcoming Rule 5 protection choices. There’s a fairly large selection of players who present challenging decisions, so we’ll take a look at them one by one. In previous editions, we’ve looked at:

• Hunter Bishop

• Jose Cruz

• Tristan Beck

• Will Wilson

• Jairo Pomares

• Nick Avila

• Michael Stryffeler

• Chris Wright

• Luis Matos

• Ricardo Genovés and Diego Rincones

• Tyler Fitzgerald

With tomorrow demarking the protection deadline for the Rule 5 draft, it’s time for a wrap up. That means there’s no time left for making individual cases. At this point, we’ve covered all of the players who should receive real consideration for protection, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other notable players who have reached the same momentous point in their career. For one reason or another, I think the following all fall off the “serious consideration” list:

• Carter Aldrete: Aldrete had a real breakout in High A Eugene this year, with a .914 OPS and 14 home runs. That should keep him on the Giants’ radar going forward. He struggled to keep that momentum going after a promotion to Double A Richmond, however, and will likely return to that level in 2023 to see if there’s another development leap to be made.

• Clay Helvey: Another in a long line of interesting relief arms working their way up the system, Helvey can hit the mid-90s with his fastball, and features an excellent breaking ball. What separates someone like Nick Avila from Helvey is command. If Helvey can get his stuff in the strike zone more frequently, there’s a future for him.