Young Guardians outfield prospect tabbed as most likely to leave via Rule 5 Draft 

Last month, the Cleveland Guardians made some key roster decisions ahead of the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft. As a part of that roster crunch, they added Austin Peterson, Khalil Watson, Angel Genao and Yorman Gómez to their 40-man roster, all of whom could end up helping the Guardians win in the foreseeable future. 

But just because the Guardians were able to protect those four prospects doesn’t mean that they’ll leave the Rule 5 draft unscathed. 

On Wednesday, MLB.com’s Sam Dykstra and Jesse Borek published a story highlighting one player from each team who could be selected in next week’s Rule 5 Draft, where they picked outfielder Wuilfredo Antunez as the Guardians’ selection. 

“Right shoulder tendinitis put a crimp in Antunez’s Arizona Fall League stint back in October, which would have provided him an opportunity to display his skill set for a wider audience. As is, he posted a 139 wRC+ across High-A and Double-A this past season, ranking as the lone member of the Guardians organization outside of José Ramírez to post 50+ extra-base hits and 15+ steals in 2025. Signed for just $10,000 out of Venezuela in April 2019, the left-handed-hitting Antunez has made tremendous strides since arriving stateside, but with just 123 at-bats in the upper levels of the Minors, a jump straight to the big leagues could come with a sizable learning curve,” Borek and Dykstra wrote. 

Guardians outfield prospect Wuilfredo Antunez could be selected in the Rule 5 Draft 

This isn’t the first time the MLB Pipeline crew has been a fan of Antunez, as they also picked him as one of the Guardians’ toughest Rule 5 decisions along with being one of the players they highlighted for their Arizona Fall League performance. 

Antunez is a tangible example of the frustrations of the Rule 5 Draft. He’s a promising prospect who would fit into any team’s minor league plans, but any team that picks him would have to hold on their 26-man roster all season — an admittedly tougher thing to do given the fact he hasn’t played above Double-A. 

The Guardians took a similar gamble in 2024 when they selected 20-year-old Deyvison De Los Santos in the Rule 5 draft from the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

The Guardians selected De Los Santos because of his power (he hit 44 home runs in the prior two seasons of the minors), but his swing-and-miss proved to be too much (he had 272 strikeouts in the two seasons prior). 

He spent spring training with the Guardians before being returned to the Diamondbacks, who traded him to the Marlins in 2024 as a part of their package to acquire reliever A.J Puk. De Los Santos is currently ranked as the Marlins’ No. 22 prospect by MLB Pipeline. 

It wouldn’t be surprising to see a team select Antunez due to what he can bring to the table with his power and speed, but it’s hard to believe a team would keep him on their active roster all season. 

The other Guardians prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft are Kody Huff, Milan Tolentino, Dylan DeLucia, Trenton Denholm, Ryan Webb and Steve Perez.