Who is Paul Campbell? What you need to know about the Miami Marlins’ Rule 5 selection
The Miami Marlins’ run of selecting pitchers in the Rule 5 Draft continues.
With the No. 17 overall pick in this year’s draft, the Marlins selected Tampa Bay Rays right-handed pitcher Paul Campbell on Thursday, adding another intriguing pitcher to their bullpen competition.
The pool of players eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft are those who are not on a team’s 40-man roster and have been in professional baseball for at least four years (five if he was 18 years old or younger when he signed his first contract) are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.
Players selected in the Rule 5 draft must remain on a team’s active roster for the duration of the next season or they are sent back to their original club. Teams are paid $100,000 if one of their players is drafted.
Campbell, 25, was the Rays’ No. 24 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline. He has a career 3.12 ERA through 233 1/3 innings spanning three minor-league seasons. He finished 2019 in Double A, where he compiled an 8-4 record with a 3.36 ERA and 63 strikeouts against 20 walks over 85 2/3 innings in 16 games (11 starts). He sets up to be a potential long reliever or occasional spot starter.
His scouting report, per MLB Pipeline:
“A good athlete with a clean delivery and quick right arm, Campbell showed four Major League-caliber pitches during his breakout campaign [in 2019]. He can exploit hitters’ weaknesses with his fastball command, sitting 92-95 mph and reaching back for more when needed, while his 89-90-mph cutter gives him a complementary above-average weapon. Campbell’s changeup is a swing-and-miss pitch against left-handed hitters and his curveball can be at times as well, but he struggled to get them out consistently in 2019 (.279/.337/.425), albeit while handling righties with aplomb (.207/.258/.313). An above-average strike-thrower, he doesn’t get a ton of whiffs but does induce a lot of weak contact from poorly timed swings.”
This marks the fourth consecutive season the Marlins have selected a player in the MLB phase of the Rule 5 draft. They took right-handed pitcher Sterling Sharp in 2019, right-handed pitcher Riley Ferrell in 2018 and right-handed pitcher Elieser Hernandez in 2017.
Of the previous three, only Hernandez is still with the club.
No Marlins prospects were selected in the MLB phase of the Rule 5 Draft. The Marlins protected both of their top-30 prospects who were eligible to be selected in middle infielder Jose Devers and outfielder Jerar Encarnacion.
Triple A phase
The Marlins selected three players in the Triple A phase of the Rule 5 Draft: Left-handed pitcher Jake Fishman from the Toronto Blue Jays organization, right-handed pitcher Dylan Bice from the Texas Rangers organization and infielder Marcus Chiu from the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.
Fishman, 25, has a career 2.97 ERA over 166.2 minor-league innings, finishing the 2019 season in Double A. He has 183 strikeouts against 37 walks.
Bice, 23, hasn’t pitched above Class A ball yet and has a 3.90 ERA in 85 1/3 innings over 40 games (seven starts) with 96 strikeouts against vs 37 walks. Opponents only hit .189 against him in 2019.
Chiu, a 15th round draft pick by the Dodgers in 2017, has a career .236 batting average with 28 home runs and 103 RBI in 228 minor league games. He spent all of 2019 at the Class A Advanced level.
The Marlins lost one prospect, pitcher Brett Graves, in the Triple A phase of the Rule 5 Draft.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
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