D-backs select Orioles’ Pop in MLB Rule 5 Draft, trade to Marlins
Dec 10, 2020, 12:33 PM | Updated: 1:09 pm
(Arizona Sports/Matt Layman)
The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Baltimore Orioles right-handed pitcher Zach Pop with the sixth pick in the 2020 MLB Rule 5 Draft and followed that Thursday by taking Los Angeles Dodgers lefty pitcher Tyler Gilbert in the first round of the Triple-A phase.
The team then traded Pop to the Miami Marlins for a player to be named later.
Pop, 24, played for Double-A Bowie during the last minor league season in 2019. He struck out 11 batters in 10.2 innings while allowing seven hits and one earned run for a 0.82 ERA.
Pop began his pro career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and was one of the players that landed in the Orioles organization in the Manny Machado trade from 2018.
Gilbert, 26, played for Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season and had a 2.83 ERA in 36 games.
Also in the Rule 5 draft, the Diamondbacks lost catcher Ryan January to the Dodgers, who took him with the 25th and final pick of the Triple-A phase first round. He spent last year with the Short Single-A Hillsboro Hops.
January was an eight-round pick by the D-backs in 2016.
The D-backs also lost first baseman Yoel Yanqui in the fourth round and shortstop Steven Leyton in the sixth round to the Cincinnati Reds.
Yanqui spent 2019 with High-A Visalia, while Leyton played with Low-A Kane County.