(670 The Score) The Cubs selected 24-year-old right-hander Gray Fenter from the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday.
Fenter was 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 94 1/3 innings in 2019, when he pitched for the Class-A Delmarva Shorebirds. He has a career 3.21 ERA in the minor leagues. The Orioles selected Fenter in the seventh round of the amateur draft in 2015.
The Cubs sat in the 22nd slot by and were the 14th team to make a pick after eight clubs chose to pass before them.
Teams that add a player in the Rule 5 Draft must pay $100,000 to the club that they acquired him from. The player is then directly assigned to his new team's 26-man roster. To be sent to the minor leagues, the drafted player must first be placed on outright waivers. If he clears waivers, he's also subject to being offered back to his previous team for $50,000 before he can be sent to the minor leagues.
In the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 Draft, the Cubs added right-hander Nicholas Padilla from the Rays (first round) and right-hander Samuel Reyes from the Pirates (second round).
Padilla, who turns 24 later in December, had a 3.48 ERA in 32 relief appearances for Single-A Bowling Green in 2019. Reyes, 24, had a 2.29 ERA in 35 appearances, including 32 out of the bullpen, in time split between Single-A Bradenton and Single-A Greensboro in 2019.
The Cubs lost right-hander Yunior Pérez to the Tigers in the first round of the Triple-A phase and right-hander Jeffrey Passantino to the Pirates in the third round on the Triple-A phase. The Cubs' 40-man roster now sits at 35 players.