Bryan Rincon, Aroon Escobar Headline Phillies' Rule 5 Decisions Before Nov. 17 Deadline

Two days after Reading won its first outright Eastern League title since 1995, Bryan Rincon was back at Citizens Bank Park, where he had tried out in 2022, to accept the Paul Owens Award as the Philadelphia Phillies' top minor league position player.

Now the Phillies have until Nov. 17 to put him on their 40-man roster. Otherwise, he can be taken in the Rule 5 draft in December.

Rincon is fourth on MLB Pipeline's Phillies list. Aroon Escobar, who played second base next to him at Reading, is eligible, too.

Coming into this year, Rincon had 18 home runs in 230 professional games. His 2024 was a .198 season interrupted by a hamstring injury, and a broken hamate bone ended his 2025 at High-A Jersey Shore.

In spring training, then-hitting coach Kevin Long showed him a drill Long had used with Juan Soto in Washington.

Then he hit 26 homers for Reading, tied with teammate Alex Binelas for the Eastern League lead, and stole 30 bases. It was the first time he had played 100 games in a professional season.

In the playoff opener, a 21-4 win over Hartford, he drove in five.

"These kids are unbelievable," manager Al Pedrique said that night.

The following night in Hartford, Rincon opened Game 2 with a homer to the second deck in right-center.

"I just keep playing the game wherever they put me," Rincon said when asked where he hoped to play next season.

Born in New York City and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, he began switch-hitting at 13, after years of encouragement from his father. When no club signed him at 16, he moved to Pittsburgh for high school. The Phillies drafted him in the 14th round in 2022.

With Alec Bohm approaching free agency, Dave Dombrowski identified Rincon as a possible third baseman for 2027, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports.

Escobar hit .230 in 132 games for Reading, with 12 home runs and 27 steals. He was involved in a key play in Game 1 of the championship series at Erie on Sept. 20: in the eighth, while Wen-Hui Pan was pitching, Rincon caught a line drive and turned a 6-4 double play with Escobar.

He is in the Arizona Fall League now with Aidan Miller. Pan and left-hander Mavis Graves are also eligible.

The deadline is two weeks before baseball's labor deal expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1. If no new agreement is reached, owners are expected to lock out players, preventing front offices from contacting anyone on the 40-man roster. The 2021-22 lockout canceled the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft.