For the second straight year, the Toronto Blue Jays are taking a shot on a pitcher returning from injury in the Rule 5 Draft.
The Blue Jays selected 25-year-old Spencer Miles with the 27th pick in Wednesday's draft at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.
Miles, a six-foot-three right-hander from the San Francisco Giants organization, spent the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery that he underwent in the summer of 2024.
A native of Columbia, Mo., Miles has worked into the upper 90s with his sinker and four-seam fastball, which headline an arsenal rounded out by a curveball, changeup and cutter.
For any selection a team makes, it must pay the player's former team $100,000. All players selected in the MLB portion of the draft must remain on their new team's 26-man roster for the entire 2026 season — or the injured list, if they get hurt — or they will be placed on outright waivers and then offered back to their original team for $50,000, if they clear.
If they aren't able to reach the requisite 90 days of time on the active roster due to injury, the requirements roll over to the following season.
While he didn't pitch in affiliated ball during the 2025 regular season, Miles made it back to the mound for the Arizona Fall League alongside some of baseball's top prospects. Miles ultimately made five appearances in Arizona, tossing 8.2 innings with a 4.15 ERA while striking out 12 batters and walking one.
Drafted out of the University of Missouri in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, Miles has struggled to stay healthy throughout his professional career. Not only did he have the Tommy John surgery last year, but he also missed all of 2023 after undergoing back surgery.
He returned for five outings with the ACL Giants in 2024 but ultimately had his season cut short with the elbow injury.
The Colorado Rockies selected reliever RJ Petit from the Detroit Tigers with the first selection in Wednesday's draft. The six-foot-eight righty struck out 79 hitters over 66.1 innings, while splitting time between double-A and triple-A. Petit carried a 2.44 ERA and was ranked as the No. 30 prospect in Detroit's system by MLB Pipeline.
To be eligible to be drafted, players who signed at 18 or younger must have made the 40-man roster within five seasons and players who signed at 19 or older within four.
In 2024, the Blue Jays drafted right-hander Angel Bastardo from the Boston Red Sox farm system. The 23-year-old spent the entire 2025 season rehabbing from a Tommy John surgery of his own and will have to fulfill the Rule 5 requirements in 2026 or risk being returned to the Red Sox.
Bastardo was just one of three Rule 5 selections to remain with their new team over the entire 2025 season. He joined Shane Smith, who represented the Chicago White Sox at the All-Star Game, and Canadian catcher Liam Hicks as the trio to make it the full year.
Toronto also made a pair of selections in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft on Wednesday. Each pick in the triple-A phase costs the drafting team $24,000, but there are no roster requirements for players to stick with their new teams.
The Blue Jays drafted 22-year-old outfielder Hedbert Perez from the Milwaukee Brewers in the first round.
Perez, once considered a top prospect in the Milwaukee system, started in 2025 in high-A and was promoted late in the year to double-A. Between the two stops, the left-handed hitter slashed .211/.311/.405 with 14 home runs, 11 doubles, 44 RBIs and eight stolen bases.
Robert Perez, Hedbert's father, played in the majors for six seasons, four of which came with Toronto. Robert suited up in 144 games for the Blue Jays from 1994 to 1997, then went on to play in Seattle, Montreal, New York and Milwaukee.
The Blue Jays dipped into the Tigers' system with their second pick in the minor-league phase, landing right-handed pitcher Travis Kuhn.
Kuhn, 27, began 2025 with the Philadelphia Phillies' double-A affiliate, but was released after carrying a 6.00 ERA through 33 innings. The five-foot-10 right-hander then landed with Detroit on a free-agent deal and immediately improved his results.
Over 16.2 appearances at double-A Erie, Kuhn posted a 2.70 ERA and struck out 11.
Two Canadians were also taken in the triple-a portion. The Atlanta Braves selected high-A catcher Archer Brookman, a native of Pointe-Claire, Que., from the Tigers in the second round. The Red Sox followed that up by picking Toronto-born outfielder Matt Lloyd from the St. Louis Cardinals.
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