LAS VEGAS, Nev.—The Rule V draft is a staple at the Winter Meetings. It is the one formal baseball event that attracts a large gathering of club officials from the 30 big league teams, along with hundreds of interested observers.

But historically, the Rule V draft is most often much ado about nothing. Few players of consequence change hands in the grand scheme of things, and most players drafted are obscure players who remain obscure players. But every once in a while, a player is selected in the major league phase of the draft who justifies all the hype.

Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente remains the standard bearer for Rule V draft picks. He was plucked off the Triple-A roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Nov. 22, 1954 and went on to play 18 years with the Pirates, hitting .317 with 240 home runs and 1,305 RBIs. He also reached 3,000 hits before his untimely death in 1972.

Current big league all-stars Josh Hamilton and Johan Santana were also Rule V picks. Interestingly, both players not only burned the teams that left them unprotected on their 40-man rosters and thus exposed to the Rule V draft, but the teams that agreed to draft them and subsequently moved them in pre-arranged deals to teams lower in the draft order.

As the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 Rule IV (amateur) draft, Hamilton was possibly the best-known Rule V pick ever at the time he was selected at the Winter Meetings in 2006. He had been left unprotected by the Tampa Bay Rays and was grabbed by the Chicago Cubs with the third pick overall, only to be moved to the Cincinnati Reds.

Santana, an obscure pitcher in the Houston Astros system, was far less-known than Hamilton at the time he was selected second overall by the Florida Marlins in the 1999 Rule V draft. Unwittingly, the Marlins agreed to a pre-draft deal with the Minnesota Twins whereby they would swap Santana for the player, righthander Jared Camp, that the Twins had selected with the No. 1 pick in the draft.

But players of that impact have been few and far between through the years.

Players who are not currently on their team’s 40-man roster are eligible to be selected in the Rule V draft, but only after a standard exemption period has elapsed. Typically, a player who was younger than 19 at the time he signed his original pro contract isn’t eligible for the draft for four years; a player 19 or older is eligible to be drafted after three years.

The kicker is that a player chosen in the Rule V draft must be kept on the selecting team’s 25-man major league roster for the entire season after the draft. He may not be optioned or designated to the minors. For that reason, few players are drafted.

A total of 21 players were selected in the major league phase of today’s Rule V draft. The Washington Nationals, by virtue of the poorest record in the majors this season, had the first selection and took righthander Terrell Young from the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A roster.

Young would appear to be a longshot to stick on a big-league roster in 2009 as he has gone just 6-11 in three minor league seasons, none above high Class A. It was anticipated that the Nationals drafted Young on behalf of another club, and would accept a cash settlement as compensation for the favor.

Led by Clemente, here’s our take on the 10 most significant Rule V draft picks in history:

LAS VEGAS, Nev.—Baseball’s Winter Meetings kicked off here today, and the setting was appropriate for native son Greg Maddux to announce his retirement from a 23-year major league career. With 355 wins, Maddux is not only the best big leaguer Nevada has ever produced, but the state’s most noted sports figure.

A product of Las Vegas’ Valley High, Maddux was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the 1984 draft. He might have gone higher, but scouts at the time were concerned about his underwhelming physical stature and lack of dominating stuff—every scout, that is, with the possible exception of Cubs scout Doug Mapson, who was instrumental in the scouting, drafting and signing of Maddux.

“I really believe this boy would be the No. 1 player in the country if only he was a bit more physical,” Mapson wrote in his scouting report on Maddux.

Mapson, who remains active as the coordinator of amateur scouting for the San Francisco Giants, couldn’t have been more on the mark in his assessment of Maddux, particularly with Pennsylvania high school outfielder Shawn Abner, the actual No. 1 overall pick in 1984, falling far short of expectations with a career .227 average and 11 homers.

Maddux, 42, never relied on an overpowering fastball to blow hitters away at any point in his career. Instead, he won four Cy Young Awards and the eighth-most games in major league history through a combination of pinpoint command, excellent late movement on his fastball that made balls look like strikes (and vice versa) and generally outsmarting hitters. For added measure, he won 18 Gold Glove Awards.

For all his success at the major league level, Maddux was no better than the 10th-highest draft pick ever out of a Nevada college or high school. He was third pick in the second round, the 31st player selected overall in 1984, and signed with the Cubs for $75,000—a modest investment for the winningest pitcher ever drafted.

Of the top 10 Nevada draft picks, nine reached the big leagues—making the odds of drafting a Nevada-developed player a safe bet, even by Las Vegas odds. Four of the 10 came from Valley High, Maddux’ alma mater. Maddux was easily the lowest pick of the four as catcher Tyler Houston (1989, second overall), righthander Mike Morgan (1978, fourth overall) and righthander Dan Opperman (1987, eighth overall) are three of the state’s four highest draft picks on record.

All the Valley High players were coached by Rodger Fairless, who was at Valley High from 1978-89 before moving to greener pastures at Green Valley High in nearby Henderson, where he coached another eight seasons.

A total of 28 Nevada players have been drafted in the first three rounds in 44 years, and Valley High and Green Valley High have produced nine such players between them—including five of the nine first-rounders.

Highlighted by Maddux at No. 10, here are Nevada’s 10-highest draft picks ever. Maddux is the only non-first-rounder in the group.