Welcome back, Nick Green. The Diamondbacks have returned the right-hander to the Yankees as a Rule 5 Draft pick, the team announced. That means Green cleared waivers and has been removed from the 40-man roster. He was the only player the Yankees lost in the Major League phase of the Rule 5 Draft over the winter.
Green, 23, had a deceptive 2.70 ERA in 13.1 innings with Arizona this spring. In those 13.1 innings he put 23 runners on base with more walks (eleven) than strikeouts (eight). Per the Rule 5 Draft rules, the D’Backs had to keep Green on their 25-man active MLB roster all season, or put him on waivers and offer him back to the Yankees.
New York originally acquired Green in the Carlos Beltran trade with the Rangers. He spent almost all of 2019 with High-A Tampa, where he threw 115.1 innings with a 3.28 ERA (4.15 FIP) and underwhelming walk (11.2%) and strikeout (18.2%) rates. That said, his funky little cut-sinker led to a 66.4% ground ball rate, best in the minors (min. 130 innings).
Green did not throw more than three innings in an outing this spring, so he’s not really stretched out at the moment. Once he is, he figures to join an already crowded Double-A Trenton rotation that includes Albert Abreu, Nick Nelson, Trevor Stephan, and Garrett Whitlock. Without thinking about it too much, I likely would’ve had Green in the 20-25 range in my top 30 prospects.