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Where Are They Now: S6 Rule 5 Draft

#1: RP Sid Watson was the first player taken in Capra's Rule 5 inaugural draft by the Jacksonville Juggernauts after the Albuquerque Roadrunners failed to protect him. Since then, Watson has become the Juggs' closer and has nailed down 77 saves with a 3.77 ERA in 3 seasons, as well as making a trip to the S7 Midsummer Classic.

#2: SP Armando Gonzalez has had a little rougher go of things. Selected by the Trenton Titans, he took the hill 8 times for Trenton to a 6.99 ERA. Since then, he has been placed on waivers twice, traded once, and amassed a 9-10 big league record with a 5.5 ERA. Gonzalez is currently trying to win a roster spot in Spring training with the Oklahoma City Drunken Ducks.

#3: RP Eduardo Ramirez spent most of S6 serving up batting practice for the opponents of the Dover Galaxy before being waived. But his 8.49 ERA did not scare away the Washington G-Men(currently the Buffalo Hunters) where he has been a mediocre reliever for the last two seasons.

#4: RP Alberto Blanco and his rookie 2.83 ERA were a nice addition to the G-Men in S6, but his numbers have risen to 4.3 and 6.6 over the last two seasons, coincidentally as his workload has increased. Buffalo will again look for the right combo of workload and effectiveness for Blanco this season.

#5: Las Vegas found SP Kevin Jung here, who proceeded to go 1-15 in his rookie campaign. However, Jung rewarded Longballer management's faith in him by pitching to a 10-5/3.95 in S7. Jung seemed to lose himself a little in S8, as evidenced by hi almost 6 ERA, and will look to get righted in S9.

Other significant draft picks

#8: CF Wes Steele didn't show much in his debut season for the Pawtucket Patriots, but made great strides in seasons 7 and 8, following up a 266/346/403 line byt hitting 303/374/436 last season in addition to thieving 60 bags and leaving the yard 14 times. At only 25 now, Steele is looking like a great find.

#10 SS David Person served adequately as a good-glove backup for Anaheim for 3 seasons, but is listed here only because he just inked a 4-year 17M deal with El Paso, who apparently like his slick defense quite a bit.

#21: DH Miguel Olivares was left unprotected by Pawtucket, and has become huge lineup threat for the San Juan Express. In three big league seasons since the draft, Olivares has averaged 304/369/543 with 29 homers and 90 ribbies per season. Nice one here, sved.

Most of the other players from our initial Rule 5 have either retired, bounced around between AAA and the bigs with trouble in the latter, or served as role players/backups in the big leagues.

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