Four Blue Wahoos Added To The Marlins 40-Man Roster

Four Marlins prospects who spent time in Pensacola in 2022 received good news leading up to Major League Baseball's 40-man roster deadline on Tuesday afternoon.

Sean Reynolds, George Soriano, Eli Villalobos and Josh Simpson were added to Miami's 40-man roster in the days leading up to the deadline, protecting them from baseball's annual Rule 5 Draft.

Players first signed at age 18 or younger must be added to their club's 40-man roster within five years or risk being picked by another organization in December's Rule 5 Draft. The timeline is compressed to four years for players signed at 19 or older.

The Rule 5 Draft, held this year on December 7 during the Winter Meetings in San Diego, gives clubs a chance to select veteran minor league players from other organizations if there is a clear path to major league playing time with their new club. Any unprotected player selected by another club in the Rule 5 Draft must spend the entire season on the major league 26-man roster or be offered back to their original team.

Placement on a 40-man roster is an important and necessary step towards reaching the big leagues, and affords players financial and contractual benefits. In the course of a season, minor league players already on a team's 40-man roster are often first in line to receive call-ups to their big league team.

Reynolds, selected by the Marlins as a position player out of high school in 2016, flourished after transitioning to the mound. Between High-A Beloit and Double-A Pensacola in 2022, Reynolds appeared in 50 games in relief and converted all 10 of his regular season save opportunities. He came up big in Pensacola's title run, working 4.1 scoreless innings in the playoffs and recording the final out in both the Division Series and Championship Series.

Soriano, Villalobos and Simpson all began the 2022 season in Pensacola before earning promotions to Triple-A Jacksonville. Soriano pitched to a 3.10 ERA in 29.0 innings, Villalobos held opponents to a .193 average in 40 relief appearances, and Simpson struck out 89 batters in 55.2 relief innings.