The offseason approaches, and with that comes the Winter Meetings and the annual Rule 5 Draft. Every December, teams around MLB are given the chance to draft players from other organizations who are not placed on their team's 40-man secondary roster. The drafting team may keep that player as long as they remain on the major league roster for the entire length of the season. Players can only be taken in the Rule 5 Draft if they have not been placed on the secondary roster within five years (if they were signed at 18 or younger) or four years (if they were signed at 19 or older) of being initially signed by their team.
That leaves teams, including the Washington Nationals, with a decision to make, and that decision has a deadline of November 18: which Rule 5-eligible players will the team protect from the Draft by selecting their contract to the secondary 40-man roster, and which players will it leave vulnerable, gambling that another team won't snatch them away?
Jake Bennett
Left-hander Jake Bennett was drafted by the Nationals in the second round of the amateur draft in 2022 out of Oklahoma. Ranked the no. 10 prospect in the Nationals system by MLB Pipeline, the big 6'6" southpaw ran a 3.14 ERA in 15 starts across the lower levels of the minors in 2023 before needing to undergo Tommy John surgery at the end of the year. Bennett missed all of 2024 rehabbing from the procedure, but returned in May 2025 and threw 75 innings across three levels to a 2.27 ERA, only giving up 5 or more runs in a single one of his 19 outings.
Bennett doesn't boast wipe-out stuff. He sits in the lower 90s with his sinker, but posts solid groundball rates with a strong change and average slider. Both FanGraphs and MLB Pipeline assign Bennett a 45 FV which would imply a decent likelihood to be a reliable major league arm at the back end of the rotation. The Nationals appear almost certain to add Bennett to the secondary roster, as he figures to factor into the major league roster at some point in the 2026 campaign.
Christian Franklin
Acquired by the Nats from the Cubs in the 2025 deadline fleece job that sent Michael Soroka to the Northside, outfielder Christian Franklin has been through this Rule 5 thing before. He was eligible with the Cubs last year after slashing .268/.398/.366 with 5 home runs and 34 stolen bases in 98 games at Double-A Knoxville but went unselected. Franklin played all this year at Triple-A with both the Cubs and Nationals and started to find more of a power stroke, hitting 12 home runs, but still struggles to get the ball in the air.
Franklin, a right-handed batter standing just 5'9", plays all over the outfield and will enter his age-26 season in 2026. It's a little less clear as to whether the team will protect him for the Rule 5 Draft; position players tend to be selected less frequently in the Rule 5 than pitchers, and the Nationals outfield is already somewhat crowded with the ascension of Daylen Lile into everyday playing time. Still, Franklin could easily fit into a bench role, potentially overtaking Jacob Young as a fourth outfielder with a strong showing in Spring Training. He's listed as the no. 12 prospect in the Nationals system by MLB Pipeline, but ranks as high as no. 6 by FanGraphs' evaluation.
Franklin's page on Prospect Savant, a tool I often use that applies Triple-A Statcast data to a Baseball Savant-like visualization, tells more of the story. Christian's walk rate significantly elevates his floor compared to some of his peers, but across Triple-A hitters he ranks in just the 20th percentile when it comes to pulling the ball in the air. That stymies his ability to translate his raw power into game action. Franklin also struggles with offspeed pitches, and registers a combined xwOBA of around .205 on pitches down and either in or away in the zone.
Who do you think the Nationals should protect in the Rule 5 Draft? Let me know on Twitter @TheOttSpot.