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Detroit Tigers select right-hander Mason Englert from Texas Rangers in 2022 Rule 5 draft
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- Detroit Tigers select right-hander Mason Englert from Texas Rangers in 2022 Rule 5 draft
SAN DIEGO — The Detroit Tigers selected right-hander Mason Englert from the Texas Rangers in the 2022 Rule 5 draft.
The Tigers were positioned for the sixth selection in the Rule 5 draft, but president of baseball operations Scott Harris actually picked fifth overall. One team ahead of the Tigers — the Kansas City Royals — could not make a selection due to a full 40-man roster.
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The Tigers' 40-man roster is now at 39 players.
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For the pick, the Tigers must pay $100,000 to the Rangers. If the Tigers want to keep Englert, he must stay on the 26-man roster for the entire 2023 regular season, or be offered back to the Rangers for $50,000.
Englert, a fourth-round pick in 2018, posted a 3.64 ERA with 31 walks and 136 strikeouts over 118⅔ innings in 24 starts last season for High-A Hickory (21 starts) and Double-A Frisco (three starts). He averaged 10.3 strikeouts and 2.4 walks per nine innings.
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The 23-year-old, who underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2019, throws a 92-96 mph fastball, changeup, slider and curveball. Englert ranked as the Rangers' No. 29 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline , and is known for pounding the strike zone and missing bats in the process.
The Tigers did not lose any players in the major-league phase of the Rule 5 draft, but they lost two players — third baseman Dane Myers to the Miami Marlins and right-handed reliever Nick Kuzia to the Colorado Rockies — in the minor-league phase. Players selected in the minor-league portion aren't subject to roster restrictions with their new organizations.
After getting Englert, the Tigers acquired right-handed reliever Layne Henderson from the Houston Astros in the minor-league phase. The 26-year-old, a 30th-round pick in 2018, appeared in 34 games out of the bullpen for Double-A Corpus Christi (28 games) and Triple-A Sugar Land (six games) last season.
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Henderson logged a 3.54 ERA with 24 walks and 68 strikeouts across 53⅓ innings.
In past years, the Tigers have used MLB Rule 5 picks on outfielder Akil Baddoo (2020), right-hander Rony García (2019), righty Reed Garrett (2018), outfielder Victor Reyes (2017) and left-hander Daniel Stumpf (2016).
Reyes played five seasons for the Tigers before being removed from the 40-man roster and electing free agency in November. Baddoo and García remain with the organization as members of the 40-man roster.
Some of the most notable Rule 5 picks since 2006: Joakim Soria, Josh Hamilton, R.A. Dickey, Darren O'Day, Ender Inciarte, Ryan Pressly , Hector Rondon, Odúbel Herrera, Delino DeShields Jr., Mark Canha , Ji-Man Choi , Anthony Santander , Brad Keller and Garrett Whitlock .
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Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers select RHP Mason Englert from Rangers in Rule 5 draft
