Brewers add one intriguing prospect, lose six during 2025 minor league Rule 5 Draft

An important piece of MLB's Winter Meetings is the Rule 5 Draft. With a history dating back more than 100 years, the Rule 5 Draft serves as an opportunity for teams to add players from other organizations’ farm systems to their major league rosters. Players who meet certain criteria, which is related to how much time they have spent in the minor leagues, are eligible to be added to other organizations’ 40-man rosters for the following season, so long as they adhere to a set of restrictive roster limitations.

A year ago, the Milwaukee Brewers controversially made the decision not to protect Shane Smith from the Rule 5 Draft, and the talented pitching prospect became the first overall selection by the Chicago White Sox. Then, during the 2025 season, Smith put on an impressive display and made the AL All-Star team, putting an exclamation point on the Brewers' ill-advised decision to prioritize Connor Thomas, who they added during the Rule 5 Draft, rather than simply protect their own prospect, Smith.

This year, Milwaukee avoided a similar fiasco, electing not to make a selection in the Rule 5 Draft after protecting starting pitching prospect Coleman Crow, who was their most likely Rule 5 candidate this offseason. During the major league portion of this year's Rule 5 Draft, Milwaukee neither gained nor lost a single prospect, which was expected.

However, when it came time for the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft, a phase that allows teams to add prospects from other organizations, who, again, meet certain criteria related to service time, to their Triple-A rosters, the Brewers were a much more popular name, and not in a good way. Milwaukee ended up losing six talented prospects to the minor league Rule 5 Draft, while adding just one new player to their farm system.

Brewers add Mariners' pitching prospect Cole Phillips during minor league Rule 5 Draft, lose six of their own prospects to other organizations

The Brewers have had a great deal of success in the minor league Rule 5 Draft in recent years, most notable being their addition of Isaac Collins back in 2022. An offseason ago, they added outfielder Garrett Spain during the minor league Rule 5 Draft, who went on to have an impressive season with the Biloxi Shuckers in 2025.

This year, Milwaukee selected right-handed pitcher Cole Phillips from the Seattle Mariners organization during the first round of the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft and made no further selections in the subsequent rounds. Phillips, a second-round pick by the Atlanta Braves out of high school back in 2022, has yet to appear in a single game of professional baseball due to a string of unfortunate injuries.

However, Phillips is still just 22 years old, and his draft profile from 2022 is intriguing to say the least. Possessing a 70-grade fastball coming out of high school, MLB Pipeline wrote the following report on Phillips back in 2022: "Phillips' entire game took a leap forward during his senior season, starting with a fastball that went from topping out at 95 mph last summer to parking in the mid-90s and regularly reaching the upper 90s with running action. His 82-85 mph breaking ball combined curveball depth with slider velocity and showed flashes of becoming a plus offering. He didn't have much need for a changeup but displayed a mid-80s cambio pitch with some fade."

It's the type of high upside play that teams should be targeting in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. Phillips, who was involved in the trade that sent Wisconsin-native Jared Kelenic to Atlanta, will join the Nashville Sounds roster with the hopes of having a healthy 2026 season in his new organization.

Meanwhile, the Brewers lost six prospects during the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft -- a side effect of having the best farm system in baseball. Left-hander Nate Peterson, outfielders Spain and Hedbert Pérez, and utility Zavier Warren were all selected from the Biloxi Shuckers' roster, lefty Caden Vire was taken from the Carolina Mudcats' roster, and Hansel Rincon was taken by the New York Yankees despite appearing in just one game outside of Rookie Ball.

Peterson showed some promise as a reliever in Biloxi last season and even advanced to Triple-A before the year concluded, where he tossed three scoreless outings. Pérez was once a top prospect in the Brewers' organization, but injuries and underperformance led him to fall out of favor with the prospect evaluators before experiencing a minor career resurgence in 2025. Spain and Warren were both fine players for the Shuckers last season, but neither put up the necessary production to warrant protection from this year's minor league Rule 5 Draft. Vire holds some significant upside at 6'6" with a strong fastball, but he has yet to put it all together in a professional career that has been significantly impacted by injuries. Rincon, meanwhile, just joined the Brewers' organization back on November 25. He made one appearance for the Texas Rangers' Double-A squad last season; otherwise, all of his professional experience has come in the Rookie Leagues.

All in all, the minor league Rule 5 Draft can be viewed two ways by Brewers fans: either as an annoying loss of talent in their farm system or as a compliment by the rest of the league. Milwaukee's reputation for churning out talented prospects year in and year out has the rest of the league on notice. More than anything, Brewers fans should be relieved that the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft was quiet for Milwaukee this season, avoiding a repeat of last year’s mistake and keeping the roster flexibility that they covet.