The Cardinals Select Jean Mijares in the AAA Rule V draft
Posted on December 9th, 2010 by azruavatar in Rule 5 DraftThe Cardinals selected Jean Mijares from the Twins organization in the AAA portion of the Rule V draft.
Mijares is physically small. When you hear comments made about Eduwardo Sanchez being small, a similar assessment holds true for Mijares. Both are listed at 5′ 11″ with Sanchez weighing in at 155lbs and Mijares at 149lbs.
A lefty who spent the entirety of 2010 in the Rookie level Appalachian League, the Cardinals are very familiar with him as he plays for their league rival the Twins affiliate Elizabethon. Mijares struck out an impressive 45 batters in 33.2 innings walking 17. He’ll need to refine his command to accelerate his path to the majors.

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Potential loogy? Lord knows we need one of those @ AAA. Perhaps Sam Freeman insurance.
So he’s gonna go straight from Rookie League to Triple A?
Sure seems that way unless I’m missing something.
There is no requirement that guys taken in the AAA phase remain in AAA or higher. He theoretically could pitch in the Appy league for the Cardinals next year. It is only called the AAA phase as he was not placed on the AAA roster (limit 38) or the 40 man roster.
Anybody got a link to the rules for the AAA portion of the Rule V draft? That seems odd if you can raid a player from another team and then have no requirement to move him up in the system. Part of the justification for Rule V was to improve upward mobility for players.
I think it’s more that once you get past the first 40 players on your team, and then an additional 38 prospects, you wind up with “not much worth left.” You’re down in a talent level where there’s guys who are too young and early in their development to justify bumping somebody out of your own system, but mostly guys who simply aren’t talented enough to move up on their own. If you had the same Rule V requirement for the AAA draft, then nobody would be drafted.
As for the upward mobility….we’re talking about prospects rather than players on the cusp (which is what the Rule V requirement assumes). It’s probably healthier for the player that upward mobility is earned rather than forced. Theortically, selecting a prospect like Mijares means he has a better chance in the Cardinals organization than the Twins one because there’s more opportunity here for him–which is why he was left unprotected by the Twins after they protected their first 78 players.
>>Theortically, selecting a prospect like Mijares means he has a better chance in the Cardinals organization than the Twins one because there’s more opportunity here for him<<
Fair enough logic.
Thanks for the clarification.
The Twins are big on the guys in their system throwing strikes so it is not surprising he was available.
Can I make the assumption that he’s related to Jose Mijares? Same (former) organization. Here’s hoping he turns out as well as his brother (if in fact, he is).
Amazing what a little Google search can do. He is, in fact, Jose’s little bro.
http://oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4126149
Jean lived with me (and 5 other players) last year when he played for the Elizabethton Twins. He started the year as a closer but moved up to a starter as some of our other pitchers went up to Beloit, WI. He did better as a starter, but I don’t know if it was because it was towards the end of the season or that starting suits him better.