By Michael DiStefano

Canadian Baseball Network

Ross Atkins and the rest of the Toronto Blue Jays brass have stated they will try anything to acquire a player that will bolster the Blue Jays organization.

Typically, Toronto is extremely conservative and methodical with their roster decisions but the Blue Jays took an unconventional route in an attempt to better the team in this year’s Rule-5 draft.

Toronto didn’t make much noise during the winter meetings. That all changed when the club raised eyebrows after selecting 18-year-old pitching prospect Elvis Luciano in the Rule 5 Draft. The six-foot-two righty spent all of 2018 in Rookie-ball and has never had a sniff beyond that level.

Despite that, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins is excited about this acquisition.

“Elvis is an exciting young arm that we’ve done a lot of work on and [we] feel that any time you have the chance to acquire someone who has the chance to be a major league starting pitcher or a significant chance to be that [is great],” Atkins told reporters in Las Vegas.

Typically, 18- and 19-year-olds who sign with MLB clubs are exempt from the draft for the first four or five years of their career. So how was Luciano left exposed?

According to Baseball America, Luciano was made eligible for the Rule-5 draft because his original contract was renegotiated after he suffered an injury, which in turn, nullified his exemption status. Thus, the 18-year-old would have to have been added to the Kansas City Royals’ 40-man roster to protect him from the draft. We now know he was left off list, therefore, making him available for the taking.

A common misconception on players left off the 40-man list is that they’re not worthy of a protection spot. However, that’s not necessarily the case, especially in this circumstance. Moreover, 18-year-olds have an extremely low percentage chance of being major league ready and traditionally aren’t selected in the Rule-5 draft due to the manner of the draft rules. This line of thinking allowed the Royals to leave Luciano exposed without the fear of losing him.

According to MLB.com, the rules of a Rule-5 selection are as follows:

“A team that selects a player in the Rule 5 Draft pays $100,000 to the team from which he was selected. The receiving team must then keep the player on the Major League 25-man roster for the entirety of the next season, and the selected player must remain active (not on the disabled list) for a minimum of 90 days. If the player does not remain on the Major League roster, he is offered back to the team from which he was selected for $50,000. If his original team declines, the receiving team may waive the player.”

The main takeaway from this is the fact that the player selected must remain on the MLB roster for the entire season. Thus, Kansas City most likely didn’t foresee a team taking a flyer on such a young pitcher.

As mentioned previously, Luciano spent his entire 2018 season in Rookie-ball where he pitched 11 games in the Appalachian League and finished the season in the Pioneer League. He posted a 4.82 earned-run average with 56 strikeouts in 56 innings with the Burlington Royals of the Appalachian league. The young righty moved along to the Pioneer League (also a Rookie-ball league) where he struck out 14 batters in a pair of scoreless outings.

A nice ending for an otherwise pedestrian season against Rookie-ball hitters. Which begs the question— how is this 18-year-old pitching prospect supposed to be ready to face big league talent when camp breaks in March?

According to Atkins, the hope is to trot Luciano out on to the field to face the stars of today in 2019.

“The stuff projects very well objectively and subjectively, but it will be a great opportunity for [Luciano],” Atkins told reporters. “Our hope is he is facing Aaron Judge and some of the better hitters in the game. What an incredible challenge that would be, and we would love to see that happen.”

To call this an “incredible challenge” is a bit of an understatement from Atkins. One could argue it’s nearly an unrealistic expectation for the newest Blue Jay; especially considering he’s has yet to pitch above rookie-ball. That being said, If Luciano doesn’t cut it in the majors, he will be offered back to Kansas City or the two teams can try to agree on a trade for Toronto to keep his rights.

The youngest previous Rule-5 selection by Toronto was infielder Manny Lee. He was selected in 1985 as a 19-year-old who turned 20 during his rookie year. The Jays were able to keep him on the roster the entire season but only allowed him to have 40 at-bats in the 64-games he played. Lee spent the majority of his Rule-5 rookie season sheltered as a defensive replacement.

If Luciano succeeds in the spring and makes the big league team out of camp, we should expect a similar type of sheltered roll. Although, it would be more difficult to do with a pitcher than a position player. Expect the Blue Jays to try trotting him out in extremely low-leverage situations— namely as a fifth or sixth-inning arm.

Will the Blue Jays be able to shelter Luciano long enough to keep him around the entire season or will this be a big swing-and-miss? Only time will tell, but you have to respect the low-risk move from Atkins.

Whichever way this shakes out; Elvis Luciano will certainly be a name to watch for in spring training. If it works out for the Jays, it’s a free prospect and a piece for the team moving forward.

If not, hopefully we’ll at least get to hear someone say: “Elvis has left the building.”