San Francisco Giants: Injury to top prospect creates Rule 5 roster question

Alexander Canario’s injury creates an interesting roster question for the San Francisco Giants.

According to MLB.com’s Maria I. Guardado, San Francisco Giants outfield prospect Alexander Canario recently underwent surgery for a torn labrum, an injury he suffered during the final week of play during San Francisco’s instructional league schedule.

No timetable has been set for when he will return to game action, but the 20-year-old outfielder is expected to miss a significant amount of time.

Canario’s injury makes what was an easy offseason decision a little more difficult as the San Francisco Giants decide which Rule 5 eligible prospects they will add to the 40-man roster and which they leave vulnerable.

The deadline to protect eligible players is November 20th.

Before the injury, Canario was a lock to be protected and added to the 40-man roster. Ranked as the 7th-best prospect in the San Francisco Giants farm system, according to MLB Pipeline’s rankings, Canario has quickly evolved from a low-cost international signing to one of the team’s more intriguing prospects and part of a quartet of outfield prospects with major league potential.

Just at his latest stop on the minor league circuit, Canario slashed .301/.365/.539 with nine home runs, 17 doubles, and 40 RBI in 49 games.

As explained by Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel (now at ESPN) in their recent ranking of San Francisco Giants prospects ahead of the 2020 season, Canario has “ridiculous power and bat speed”  and is a “potential middle-of-the-order talent because of the raw power bat.”

At 20 years old and no experience above low-A ball, Canario is still a few years away from reaching the big leagues, but would be a lock to be selected in the upcoming Rule 5 draft if left unprotected. Teams like the Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Baltimore Orioles would surely find a way to manipulate the roster a bit to keep him on the active roster and part of any future plans.

But with just a few days to go before the November 20th roster deadline, the question becomes a little more difficult for the Giants. Do they use a 40-man roster spot, for now, on someone who potentially doesn’t play in 2021, or do they take a risk and hope no one else does?

Even with the possibility of extended roster sizes again in 2021 as the world continues to battle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, teams employing the strategy of hiding Rule 5 picks on their roster somehow don’t tend to happen as much as it’s discussed.

However, there is one recent successful example we can look at. In 2016, the Baltimore Orioles selected outfielder Anthony Santander in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft from the Cleveland Indians.

Santander didn’t have the prospect pedigree that Canario has, but the Orioles were intrigued by the switch-hitter’s skillset and after playing sparingly here and there, with numerous trips to the Injured List, he was able to fulfill his Rule 5 active roster requirement.  Santander has now emerged as one of Baltimore’s top players, a Gold Glove finalist, and the United Kingdom’s favorite baseball player.

Every situation is different and there are so many lurking variables to how teams will approach this year’s Rule 5 draft, but the San Francisco Giants will have to take some additional time to consider whether or not they protect Alexander Canario after this recent injury news.