The Indians have over 50 prospects eligible to be taken by othe

r teams on Thursday"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections NewsAnalysis & EditorialsCleveland Indians prospects & minor leaguesGame RecapsTransactionsCleveland Indians prospects & minor leaguesWho the Indians could lose in the Rule 5 draftNew Catfish Hunter Jersey ,31commentsThe Indians have over 50 prospects eligible to be taken by other teams on ThursdayByBrian Hemminger@BrianHemmingerDec 12, 2018, 12:00pm ESTShareTweetShareShareWho the Indians could lose in the Rule 5 draftSteve Mitchell-USA TODAY SportsThe Rule 5 Draft takes place at 12 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13 and is one of the highlights of the Winter Meetings.The Rule 5 Draft exists to prevent teams from hoarding prospects in their minor league systems when other teams would be willing to give them an opportunity to compete on their major league clubs. Players are eligible for selection in the Rule 5 Draft who are not on their major league organization’s 40-man roster and:were 18 or younger on the June 5 preceding their signing and this is the fifth Rule 5 draft upcoming; orwere 19 or older on the June 5 preceding their signing and this is the fourth Rule 5 draft upcoming.Each draftee costs $100,000. If the draftee does not stay on the selecting team’s 25-man (major league) roster all season, the player must be offered back to his original team at half-price ($50,000).There also is a minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft where teams can protect a player on their Triple-A clubs, then Double-A clubs and so on, although this mostly involves lower level prospects and depth options. This past November at the 40-man roster deadline, the Indians added 1B Bobby Bradley, LHP Sam Hentges and RHP Jean Carlos Mejia to their 40-man roster to prevent those three players from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft this year. Todd Paquette has compiled a list of all Indians first-year eligible Rule 5 draftees in their minor league system:Players who have appeared in the Indians prospect rankings include Oscar Gonzalez, Tyler Krieger Rollie Fingers Jersey , Gabriel Mejia, Ka’ai Tom and Mark Mathias. Gonzalez is the top-ranked Tribe prospect that’s available to be selected, but he should be safe considering he only played in Single-A Lake County last season and is still several years away from being MLB-ready, especially with his abysmal walk-rate.Krieger, Tom and Mathias all played Double-A last year and could be taken, although I’m sure there are better infield and outfield prospects available among the other MLB teams. Connor Marabell also could be selected after having a strong bounce-back season at Double-A plus an impressive stint in the Arizona Fall League.The players I’m most concerned about losing are relief pitchers Henry Martinez and Dalbert Siri. Martinez broke out last year with dominant stints as the closer in High-A Lynchburg and Double-A Akron before struggling in his promotion to Triple-A. He can hit close to triple digits on the radar gun and a team might be willing to take a chance on him. Siri spent his whole season in Lynchburg where he held a 2.45 ERA and had 15 saves, striking out 71 batters in 47.2 innings pitched. He didn’t advance as high as Martinez, but he has electric stuff and a team could take a shot on him.There also is a list of players who are still Rule 5 eligible and either weren’t selected before or they were selected and returned to the Indians. PitchersRHP Erick AlgarinRHP Argenis AnguloRHP Luis AraujoLHP Sean BradyRHP Dominic DeMasiRHP Kyle DowdyRHP Cameron HillRHP Luis JimenezLHP Rob KaminskyRHP Francisco LopezRHP Jordan MilbrathRHP Jared RobinsonLHP David SpeerRHP Cole SulserLHP Matt WhitehouseLHP Randy ValladaresRHP Cesar VenturaPosition playersC/1B Sicnarf LoopstokC Jason Rodriguez2B Erlin CerdaUtil Jorma Rodriguez1B Emmanuel TapiaUtil Jose VicenteOF Mike PapiOf this list, the player I most fear losing is Kyle Dowdy. Dowdy was the secondary offering as part of the Leonys Martin trade with the Detroit Tigers last season. Scouts reported that Dowdy’s velocity ticked up about 5 mph after he arrived in Cleveland and he was hitting 99 mph during his starts with Double-A Akron, helping the team advance to the playoffs last year. Dowdy is definitely in the mix to get a shot to pitch for the big league club this year as starting pitching depth or even out of the bullpen (as long as no one takes him in the Rule 5 Draft).Mike Papi is a former Indians first round pick with a good eye at the plate and average offense. He had a decent year last year but has never had that true “breakout” campaign that justified his high draft status. He’s now stuck behind several players the Indians have added for Triple-A and MLB outfield depth. Rob Kaminsky is a former top 10 Indians prospect, but injuries have dropped his prospect status significantly. He returned in the middle of last season as a southpaw bullpen option for Akron, but has yet to see Triple-A.The Indians lost Anthony Santander to the Baltimore Orioles two years ago in the Rule 5 Draft. Is there anyone you’re concerned about losing this year? HOUSTON — Instead of playing coy http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-khris-davis-jersey , which some predicted would be his course of action, Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia did not hesitate in announcing that rookie right-hander Shohei Ohtani would return to the mound for the first time in nearly three months on Sunday.Ohtani (4-1, 3.10 ERA) last pitched for the Angels on June 6 against the Kansas City Royals, working four innings before being sidelined with a grade 2 UCL sprain. The two-way Rookie of the Year candidate returned as a hitter on July 3 and produced a slash line of .261/.333/.555 with nine home runs and 23 RBIs over 44 games entering the four-game series with the Astros.Ohtani underwent injections of platelet-rich plasma and stem cells in his elbow on June 7.Article continues below ...“We’ll obviously monitor that very closely and we’ll have a range, but we’re going to wait and talk internally just to see what he’s going to be able to do and how the game’s going,” Scioscia said of a pitch count for Ohtani. “Naturally there’ll be a range that we’ll want to stay in.“This is going to be fluid. This is going to be directed from a lot of input from our medical staff, from how he’s evaluated after every outing, and we’ll see the frequency that he’s going to get out there.”Rookie right-hander Jaime Barria (8-9, 3.67 ERA) will start the second game of the series for the Angels (65-69). It will mark his 21st start on the season and 10th on the road. Barria was charged with the loss on Aug 25 against the Astros after allowing four earned runs and five hits over three innings, his second-shortest start of 2018. In two starts against Houston this season, Barria is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA. He will make his first career appearance at Minute Maid Park.Left-hander Framber Valdez (2-0, 0.96 ERA) will make his second career start and third appearance for the Astros (82-52) on Friday. Valdez allowed one run on two hits and three walks with three strikeouts over five innings against the Angels on Aug. 26 in a 3-1 victory. He made his major league debut five days earlier in relief against the Seattle Mariners Dave Henderson Jersey , earning the victory after surrendering one unearned run on two hits and one walk over 4 1/3 innings.Astros catcher Brian McCann will start behind the plate on Saturday following reinstatement from the 10-day disabled list. McCann has been sidelined since June 30 (right knee surgery).“We’re going to get him back in the mix right away,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “I want to see his agility, I want to see his mobility, I want to see him hit with some leverage on his knee — all things that he’s shown in the minor leagues and he’s telling me that he can do.“His ability behind the plate to run a game, to control the pitching staff, the trust of the pitching staff will come back immediately. There will be an immediate, great feeling out of the pitching staff when they throw to him. But I am eager to get him back in the mix because he brings a lot of intangibles, he brings a lot of experience, and he needs to get back in the flow of things having been out so long.”