MLB Pipeline gives our organizational Top 30 prospect rankings complete refreshes twice per calendar year (once in spring, once in-season) and provides other live updates as graduations and other transactions necessitate them. In the latter category, two dates in particular are our busiest for Top 30 updates: the Trade Deadline and the Rule 5 Draft.

The latter arrived Wednesday as part of the Winter Meetings in Dallas. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo recapped the Rule 5 results from the heaviest-volume draft in some time, featuring 83 total picks, including 15 during the Major League phase.

To quickly summarize, Rule 5-eligible players who were selected in the MLB portion must stick in the Majors for the entire 2025 season or else be offered back to their original organizations.

Seven of the 15 picks from the MLB phase entered new Top 30s, and four left old ones, requiring further shuffling in their farm systems’ rankings. Here’s a summary of the Top 30 movement from a busy Wednesday in the land of prospects.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays
Added: Angel Bastardo, RHP (No. 29)

The Rule 5 Draft is typically conducted with the short term in mind because of how players need to stick on the MLB roster, but there are times when clubs can take long-term views in the process as Toronto did here.

Bastardo underwent Tommy John surgery last summer and will likely spend much of 2025 recovering and rehabbing from that procedure. Toronto will get to oversee that process as it determines Bastardo’s future with the club, and the righty must be on the active roster for 90 days in order to fulfill his Rule 5 duties (a stipulation that could carry into 2026 if needed).

Bastardo showed an ability to touch 97 mph with his fastball before getting hurt, and his above-average changeup intrigues the Jays. He also sports two average breaking balls that give him a chance to start when he’s recovered.

Orioles
Lost: Juan Nuñez, RHP (No. 8)
Top 30 replacement: Luis Almeyda, SS/3B (No. 30)

Known for their hitting prospects, the Orioles lost the second highest-ranked pitching talent in their system when Nuñez was taken by the Padres.

Nuñez, 24, jumped up the Baltimore list on the strength of his stuff — namely a mid-90s fastball, two breaking pitches that flash plus and a solid changeup — but he was left unprotected after a shoulder injury limited him to 29⅓ innings in 2024.

He’s still yet to pitch above High-A and faces an uphill battle to stick on a contending San Diego club. In Nuñez’s stead, Almeyda — a $2.3 million international signee in 2023 — slots in as another quality infield prospect on the O’s list.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Tigers
Lost: Gage Workman, 3B/SS (No. 29)
Top 30 replacement: Sawyer Gipson-Long, RHP (No. 30)

A 2020 fourth-rounder out of Arizona State, Workman fell off previous Detroit Top 30s due to serious strikeout concerns. He gave up switch-hitting to bat exclusively from the left side and his K rate promptly decreased to a much more manageable 27.5 percent at Double-A in 2024. The improvement may have gotten him back on our ranked list but it wasn’t enough to get him on Detroit’s 40-man.

Now he’ll get a chance to crack the Cubs’ infield instead. Gipson-Long didn’t pitch in 2024 after undergoing Tommy John and hip surgeries, but he’s still considered part of the Tigers’ organizational starting depth heading into 2025.

Twins
Added: Eiberson Castellano, RHP (No. 13)

The 23-year-old right-hander jumps up the Minnesota board on the strength of a solid three-pitch mix, highlighted by a mid-90s fastball and an above-average upper-80s changeup. His low-80s curveball also has its fans among scouts.

Castellano used that repertoire to build a breakout 2024 season in which he posted a 3.99 ERA with 136 strikeouts and 29 walks over a career-high 103⅔ innings between High-A and Double-A. While he markedly improved his walk rate, he still has his best chance at working out of the Minnesota bullpen to begin his MLB journey with sights set on the rotation down the line.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

Angels
Added: Garrett McDaniels, LHP (No. 29)
Los Angeles general manager Perry Minasian talked about how difficult it can be to find quality left-handed relief help, and that was a big motivation in the Halos’ decision to take McDaniels from the Dodgers.

The 24-year-old southpaw was finally fully healthy in 2024 and finished with a 3.19 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings across three levels, topping out at Double-A. His fastball touches 97 mph and draws plus grades, while his 87-89 mph slider can help miss bats too. That’s enough for him to crack the Halos’ shallow Top 30.

Athletics
Lost: Cooper Bowman, 2B/OF (No. 20)
Top 30 replacement: Logan Davidson, 3B/SS/OF (No. 30)
Bowman felt tailor-made to be a Rule 5 pick as a plus-plus runner with a versatile defensive history and upper-level experience, but the A’s decided to risk losing him by leaving him off the 40-man, allowing the Reds to swoop in.

Bowman is replaced by one of his Triple-A Las Vegas teammates in Davidson, who has similarly seen time on both the dirt and grass.

The 2019 first-rounder hit a career-high 15 homers in 2024, spending it mostly in the Pacific Coast League, and his above-average exit velocities proved the slugging jump was real and not desert-manufactured. He’ll still have to improve his contact rate to stick in the Majors in 2025.