Gull to Play for Miami Marlins
December 17, 2017 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT, RI- Brett Graves, a Right-Handed Pitcher for the 2013 Newport Gulls was selected 17th overall by the Miami Marlins in the Major League Baseball Rule 5 Draft. The Draft was held yesterday, December 14th and is conducted annually by Major League General Managers during the December Winter Meetings.
The Rule 5 Draft, named after its place in the Professional Baseball Agreement varies from the more commonly known First-Year Player Draft or Rule 4 Draft, as the players selected are already professionals under contract with major league teams. A team that takes a player in the Rule 5 Draft must pay $50,000 to the organization in which he was selected from. The team that has selected this player is then required to keep the player on their Major League 25- Man roster for the duration of the upcoming season. If the player does not remain with the club all season he is then returned to his original team for half the original payment ($25,000) or waived.
Brett Graves was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in Round 3 of 2014's First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Missouri and has floated around the A's system since selected. Graves reached Double-A Midland this past season. He holds a career 5.00 ERA over 362 innings, appearing in 78 games, starting 66.
Miami heads into the 2018 season with a new ownership group led by long-time major league shortstop Derek Jeter. Adding Graves is not the only transaction this off-season as the Marlins recently dealt 2017 National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees. Graves, currently 24-years-old, has an opportunity to make an impact in the majors as he is now a member of Miami's 40-man roster and will get his first taste of the big leagues this spring as part of a revamped 25-man roster.
Graves was a 2013 NECBL All-Star that made six starts for the Gulls including two during Newport's playoff run. He finished the summer season with a total of 49.1 innings, 50 strikeouts, and a 1.43 ERA.
The Gulls look forward to watching Brett's professional career continue as a member of the Miami Marlins and are excited for his first Major League appearance.
The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation's top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the youth of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations - totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are six-time champions of the NECBL - the winningest franchise in league history - and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.
For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter and Instagram @NewportGulls, or visit www.newportgulls.com. Please contact the Gulls Front Office at 401-845-6832 or operations@newportgulls.com for all media inquiries.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from December 17, 2017
- Gull to Play for Miami Marlins - Newport Gulls
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