Rule 5 Draft: Pirates select Marlins outfielder John Raynor

Rule 5 Draft: Pirates select Marlins outfielder John Raynor

9:25am - Thursday, December 10th, 2009 by InsidePittsburghSports News Wire

With the second selection in the Rule 5 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Florida Marlins outfielder John Raynor (6ft2 - 184 lbs) this morning.

The 25 year outfielder was the Marlins 9th round draft choice in 2006.

Raynor batted .257 with 6 home runs and 36 RBI's in 123 games for Class AAA New Orleans last season.

Raynor's best minor league season came in 2007 when he batted .333 with 13 home runs - 57 RBI's and 54 stolen bases for Class A Greensboro. After being promoted to AA Carolina in 2008, Raynor put up similar numbers, hitting .312 with 13 home runs - 51 RBI's and 48 stolen bases.

Raynor was intriguing to the Pirates because of his ability on the basepads as Pirates management has talked extensively this off-season about becoming more aggressive on the basepads.

Raynor though took a step back in AAA ball as a 25 year old player. He will be 26 in January.

Raynor can play all three outfield positions and will battle for a bench role out of spring training.

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Comments

buccosin2012

I actually like this move if this guy was 22 years old. Need bench players that can steal bases. We need to play Twins kind of baseball

12/10/2009 9:49am

bob_sacamanto

i like this pick. looks like he'd be pushing moss out of the picture. hopefully he does.

12/10/2009 10:04am

mwalluk

If he pushes moss out, I'm all for this pick. Thought they would have tried to pick up someone with more upside, but it's the Pirates.

12/10/2009 10:23am

jbpitt11

Wow Moss is bad.

12/10/2009 11:30am

John.K

That Jason Bay Trade was such a dud, I hate to even think about it. Look at what the A's got for Holliday, when his value was much lower than Bay's a year before. Moss shouldn't be invited to spring training

12/10/2009 11:54am

SV84

Anything to get rid of Moss.

12/10/2009 12:00pm

mwalluk

Another skidmark in what we consider the organization

12/10/2009 12:05pm

j_s15226

we are talking about the rule V draft people....they are all stiffs! That's why they weren't protected in the first place

12/10/2009 12:11pm

mwalluk

Unless your the Pirates. You keep the crappy players and let other teams take the potentials

12/10/2009 12:18pm

Monrovian12

My favorite acquisition will always be Operation Shutdown.

12/10/2009 12:32pm

mwalluk

Ty Wigginson was good too

12/10/2009 12:41pm

mwalluk

Monro - That defined the team, they should bring that motto back, instead of we will how about "operation shutdown"

12/10/2009 12:42pm

↑ previous comments ↑

Monrovian12

The Rays just flipped Chavez for Soriano from the Braves...

12/10/2009 1:03pm

mwalluk

why couldn't we do that

12/10/2009 3:04pm

Monrovian12

I'm going to guess money, since the he went to arbitration with the Braves and they didn't want to pay him...The Pirates couldn't even throw an extra 500k to get Sano, so a couple million for an alright closer(20 some saves) is most likely out of the question for the Bucco's

12/10/2009 5:10pm

Monrovian12

And I don't believe for one second that the Bucco's have only made 5.5 million each of the past two years.

12/10/2009 5:11pm

mwalluk

You and me both. Maybe on paper but not in pocket

12/10/2009 6:03pm