The annual Rule 5 Draft takes place this Thursday morning at 11 am CT. The Kansas City Royals hold the 2nd pick of the draft, just like they will during the amateur draft next June. With that being said, we’ll be doing a ton of Rule 5 coverage this week here at Royals Farm. For your first stop, here’s a look at a guy that I think the Royals will potentially be looking at if he’s available at #2.

Ray-Patrick Didder is a super-utility man from the Atlanta Braves organization. Didder can play all over the field, including 2B, SS, CF, and RF. Didder isn’t much of a hitter (haha) but he has stolen at least 25 bases in each of his last 3 minor league seasons and is extremely versatile defensively. While he wouldn’t provide much, if any, offensive value at the plate, his versatility and athleticism would provide for perhaps some significant value off of the bench in a utility role for the Royals.

Here’s some of that defensive value at work:

And he does have a little ability at the plate:

And the wheels:

The Braves have a very deep system, and any time you get a chance to pillage from a system like Atlanta’s, it usually makes sense to do so.

The Chris Owings signing does make this something of a long-shot, however. Owings plays mostly the same positions as Didder, if not more, and has actual big league experience. Didder on the other hand has yet to take an at-bat at AAA. If the Royals had planned on taking Didder, or any player like him, in the Rule 5 draft, I can’t imagine that they would’ve also signed Owings.

However, should the Royals decide to take a chance on the Braves’ super-utility man, they would be adding yet another “action type player” to an already “action type” lineup.

Photo Credits: Garrett Spain