Rays announce Rule 5 draft picks Nate Lavender He went unclaimed on waivers and was returned to the Mets. He will return to New York but will not have a spot on the 40-man roster.
Lavender never got a chance in Tampa Bay. The former 14th-round pick underwent stent surgery in May 2024. The Rays took a pick on him in the Rule 5 draft midway through his recovery. They hope he can return for the second half of the ’25 season and compete for a major league bullpen spot. But that didn’t happen as he seemed to have suffered some sort of setback. Lavender has not played at any level this year and was designated for action last week after coming off the injured list.
Rule 5 rookies are required to spend their entire first season in their new organization on the MLB roster or the injured list. Lavender meets that criteria, but they also need to spend at least 90 days total on the active roster. If this does not happen during the first year due to injury or suspension, the player’s Rule 5 status will carry over into the winter and into the following season.
The silver lining for the 25-year-old left-hander is that he spent one season with the team major league Injured list. He received one year of service time and, more importantly, the league minimum salary of $760,000. That’s no small feat for a player who received a $125,000 signing bonus in the draft and has never had a spot on a 40-man roster before. That said, he’s not healthy enough to audition for Tampa Bay’s long-term bullpen, which is obviously disappointing.
The Illinois product will try to earn his chance with the Mets. Lavender strikes out nearly 37% of his opponents, and the top two minor league pitchers in 2023 have a combined 2.98 ERA. If he’s healthy, he could earn a non-roster invite to major league spring training. Even if he doesn’t break out of training camp, he could be upgraded midseason if he continues to miss out on the bat at Triple-A Syracuse.
