Area baseball beat: McClatchy’s Wilborn has Rule 5 ties to Clemente

Ted Wilborn and Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente have something in common.

The former McClatchy High School star and the 12-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner, four-time batting champion and 1966 National League MVP were both selected in the Rule 5 draft.

At the winter meetings each year, Major League Baseball conducts the Rule 5 draft. The draft is designed to prevent a team from stockpiling young talent in its minor-league system when other teams would be willing to have them on their major-league roster.

The Rule 5 draft is an unconventional way for a player to reach the major leagues, and the majority of players who get there this way aren’t ready.

In 1954, however, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw something in Clemente and pickpocketed him from the Brooklyn Dodgers. He, of course, went on to have a career of memorable and historical significance.

Wilborn, on the other hand, did not have such a spectacular career.

He was a fourth-round pick of the New York Yankees in 1976. He struggled in his first two seasons, hitting .188 at Short-Season A Oneonta (N.Y.) and .215 at Class-A Fort Lauderdale (Fla.). He began the 1978 season with Fort Lauderdale, hitting .186, and he didn’t start improving until he returned to Oneonta.

In 65 games with Oneonta, he hit .309 with a .428 on-base percentage and stole 57 bases. A natural left-handed hitter, he began switch hitting. His performance persuaded the Toronto Blue Jays to take him in the Rule 5 draft.

But selecting Wilborn came with a price.

The Blue Jays had to pay the Yankees a $25,000 fee and put Wilborn on their major-league roster. After 90 days, the Blue Jays could send him to the minors or place him on the disabled list. (In 1985, the fee was increased to $50,000 and the player had to stay on the major-league roster the entire season.)

Wilborn, who was 20 then, started the 1979 season with the Blue Jays, even though he was nowhere near ready for the majors (he appeared in 22 games and was 0 for 12). After three months, Wilborn was sent to the Triple-A Syracuse (N.Y.) Chiefs of the International League, where he hit .247 in 61 games.

It was clear Wilborn would have benefited from playing at a lower level, since he had never played above Class A. But the Blue Jays saw a potential star and wanted to speed his development.

Wilborn was reacquired by the Yankees in a trade at the end of the 1979 season, and he would get only eight more at-bats in the big leagues in 1980.

Wilborn’s older brother William Wilborn (McClatchy, Cosumnes River) played three seasons in the minors for the San Diego Padres (1976 to 1978).

In 12 minor-league seasons, Ted Wilborn played in 1,130 games for the Yankees (1976-78, 1980-81), Blue Jays (1979), Giants (1982-83), White Sox (1984), Tigers (1985) and Orioles (1985-87). In 3,902 at-bats, he hit .268 with 125 doubles, 67 triples, 40 home runs, 421 RBIs and 272 stolen bases.

His major-league numbers: 30 games, 20 at-bats, two hits, five runs scored and one RBI.

Around the bases

This story was originally published July 26, 2014 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Area baseball beat: McClatchy’s Wilborn has Rule 5 ties to Clemente."