photo: Angel Rondon (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
For reasons only known by them, the St. Louis Cardinals waited until Thursday to add right-handed pitcher Angel Rondon to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.
We have selected the contract of RHP Angel Rondón and added him to the 40-man roster.
Our 40-man roster now stands at 39. pic.twitter.com/hwLx6un5ug
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) November 19, 2020
On Wednesday, the team made the comparable move with catcher Ivan Herrera, opening the club up to many fan (and media) questions about why they did not do the same with the talented and promising 22-year old right-hander.
That has now been rectified.
There seemed universal agreement that Rondon would be selected by another organization in the December 10 draft had he remained unprotected. Further, given his success at Double-A in 2019, including the Texas League ERA title, odds seemed decent that once taken, Rondon could survive the 2021 season on the selecting organization’s Major League roster. In that scenario, the top 10 prospect in the Cardinals system would not return to St. Louis.
Much more Rule 5 information for members of The Cardinal Nation
The #stlcards have set their Triple-A roster for the December 8 Rule 5 Draft, an important step in trying to protect their most appealing eligible prospects. A recap of Cardinals eligible in the major and minor league phases is included. ($) https://t.co/kHp9s0dPKv pic.twitter.com/WYqggUNbu0
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) November 19, 2020
Full roster detail at The Cardinal Nation
To view and to track the status of all players in the system by position and level, check out the Roster Matrix, always free and updated here at The Cardinal Nation. Also included is every player transaction across the full organization all year long.
Detailed team rosters for the entire system can be accessed via the red menu column at the top left (see “ROSTERS/PLAYERS/MOVES”).
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