By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Three Philadelphia Phillies prospects — shortstop Arquímedes Gamboa, and right-handers Édgar García and Adonis Medina — have been guaranteed to remain within the club's farm system for at least the 2019 season.
On Tuesday, the club saved the three Rule 5-eligible prospects by selecting their contracts and adding them to the its 40-man roster, which now stands at 38 players. First baseman Justin Bour on waivers will likely soon decrease the 40-man roster to 37, however, assuming he has cleared per multiple reports.
Medina (shown in the video clip above) is the club's No. 3-ranked prospect, while Gamboa is the No. 11, per MLB.com.
NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jim Salisbury writes:
Gamboa, 21, is a talented defensive shortstop who could eventually be pushed to second base as top prospect Luis Garcia rises. A switch-hitter, Gamboa batted just .214 with a .304 on-base percentage in 114 games at Clearwater in 2018. He struck out 111 times.
Garcia, a 22-year-old reliever, split the 2018 season between Double A and Triple A and recorded a 3.64 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in 52 games. He struck out 72 batters and walked 27 in 64⅓ innings and held opposing hitters to a .206 batting average. He could push for work in the Phillies' bullpen sometime in 2019.
Medina, 21, is one of the organization’s top starting pitching prospects. He went 10-4 with a 4.12 ERA in 22 games (21 starts) for Single A Clearwater in 2018. He struck out 123 and walked 36 in 111⅓ innings. He projects to pitch at Double A in 2019.
Although Gamboa, García and Medina were protected, many other Rule 5-eligible Phillies prospects were left unprotected — such as 2017 Paul Owens Award winner RHP Tom Eshelman, minor-league Gold Glove Award winner Daniel Brito, outfielder Jose Pujols, and catcher Deivi Grullon, among others.
Top prospect Sixto Sanchez remains off the 40-man roster because he is not Rule 5-eligible due to not satisfying the following criteria:
- Player has been in the minor leagues for at least 4 years if he was signed after age 19
- Player has been in the minor leagues for at least 5 years if he was signed before age 19
The Rule 5 draft will take place on December 13. In the meantime, the next important deadline for the Phillies will take place on Nov. 30, when they must decide whether to non-tender their following nine arbitration-eligible players: right-handers Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez, Hector Neris, Luis Garcia and Jerad Eickhoff, southpaw Adam Morgan, infielders Maikel Franco and Cesar Hernandez, and outfielder Aaron Altherr.
The Phillies can non-tender or trade any to create 40-man roster space for offseason acquisitions.
