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3 innings, 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, and 7 runs
I'm just happy to see him back out there after the injury and throwing a good number of pitches, even if many of them ended very poorly for him... Would be great to see him finish out the year with a good number of healthy starts
here isn’t just one thing that distinguishes Jackson Rutledge from your typical Low-A pitcher.There’s the fastball, which touches 97 mph with a regularity bordering on blasé.There’s the expectations inherent to his status as a first-round draft pick.And, then, of course, there’s the fact that he stands 6-foot-8.“He’s built the way a pitcher should be built,” Fredericksburg Nationals pitching coach Pat Rice said.The tall order awaiting Rice and the Washington Nationals’ player development staff, then, is simple: take Rutledge, still a chiseled slab of potential at 22, and sculpt him into a major-league pitcher.Rutledge has been with the FredNats for just under two weeks. His assignment to Fredericksburg follows an uneven stint in High-A Wilmington to start the season, a bout of shoulder inflammation and a subsequent rehab with the Gulf Coast League Nationals in Florida.As fellow right-hander Cade Cavalli, Washington’s 2020 first-round draft pick, clambers up the minor-league ladder in brisk order, reaching Double-A Harrisburg last month, Rutledge has endured his share of false starts. He split his rookie season in 2019 between short-season Auburn and Hagerstown, posting a 3.13 ERA and limiting opponents to a .169 batting average.Now he's back on the Injured List, however briefly, with a finger blister.Fortunately for Rutledge, the Nationals organization isn’t in the business of comparing prospects. Each player learns at his own rate and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.“No career path is similar,” said Mark Scialabba, Washington’s assistant general manager, player development. “Some are linear and some are not.”Rutledge’s arc is circuitous as they come. He committed to the University of Arkansas out of high school, only to suffer a hip injury and transfer to San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College, the same school that produced former FredNats hurler Mitchell Parker.When the 2020 minor league season fell victim to COVID-19, Rutledge was among those prospects selected to join Washington’s alternate site at FredNats Ballpark. By all accounts, he excelled while surrounded by big league-adjacent talent.“He has tremendous upside,” Scialabba said. “He’s someone that’s physically gifted with a powerful arm. He’s shown flashes of having two or three plus secondary offerings that we believe in.”Rutledge’s current repertoire consists of four pitches: a four-seam fastball, slider, curveball and change-up. The first two have already proven capable of dominating Low-A East hitters.“His stuff has a sharpness to it that we don’t see here, to be honest with you,” Rice said.Stuff doesn’t always equate to success, however. In Wilmington, Rutledge’s ERA ballooned to 12.66 in four starts, with opponents hitting .370 against him.“The concentration of good hitters increases every level you go up,” Rutledge said. And that’s something I’ve had to adjust to.”Command is a watchword for Rice when it comes to Rutledge’s progress, and his two starts in a FredNats uniform demonstrated why that’s the case.In his first appearance, Rutledge allowed seven runs on six hits in a July 23 loss to Salem. Six days later, he gave up just two hits and struck out seven to earn his first victory of the season.“The second time out was just about putting the ball where I wanted it in the zone, getting swings that I wanted to, swings that I knew those hitters would take and being able to execute,” he said.When Rutledge reported back to FredNats Ballpark, this time following a demotion, Rice tried to impart some perspective. He’d faltered in Wilmington, sure, but this was an opportunity to reset—not to rue slow progress up to this point.“Obviously, I would love to be in a higher level right now,” Rutledge said. “But the truth is, I need to get better at things, and I am getting better at things.“I’ve got to find that rhythm and tempo within a season. I know the organization believes in me, and they have confidence that I’m going to be more than a Low-A player.”
Rutledge is starting tonight for the Fred Nats. Good to see the injury really was a blister.
Jackson Rutledge is done after 1.1 hitless innings. He leaves with the FredNats training staff.T2: FredNats 0, Red Sox 0
https://mobile.twitter.com/maria_torres3/status/1425250276206944260Welp
“I think we have connected really well,” Rice said of Rutledge, who made 10 starts with two teams in 2019. “His first outing was just short of so-so but there were some things from a mechanical standpoint that I thought, hey, it is something we can fix and fix really fast. His next outing was five shutout innings and he punched out [seven on July 29] and he threw the ball really, really well, and sadly he got a pretty significant blister so we had to stop him again.”“He took some time off, about 10 days off, then tried to throw again and the blister popped up again,” said Rice, who pitched for Seattle in 1991. “So most of the work we have done is trying to get his blister healed up and it is mostly healed and he is ready to go. Hopefully, he will get in a couple of innings tomorrow. It has almost been a month. It will just be a couple of innings.”Rutledge has made two starts this year in the Florida Complex League, three starts for Fredericksburg, and four for high Single-A Wilmington.Overall, he is 3-5 with an ERA of 5.46 in 19 starts this season.“There are a lot of big-time guys there and you get to watch them and see how they do things,” he told Federal Baseball of his work during Spring Training in February.“I am just getting my body ready,” Rutledge added. “I feel great right now and I feel ready for the season to get going. I have been throwing a lot, getting my arm ready and throwing off the mound. I am lifting three days a week. My body feels great. I hope to be able to throw a lot of innings this year.”
pitched yesterday for Fredricksburg: 4IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 4K
“More than anything, he’s got to make up for lost time,” said Mark Scialabba, an assistant general manager for the Nationals, before another Fall League game. “He’s done a nice job of really figuring out more of his strengths and controlling his delivery. His change-up is a pitch that he can rely on to get outs. That’s come a long way, and he threw two the other day that I thought were at least average and have a chance to be an out pitch for him down the road. He also is throwing a sinker here and there, and it’s becoming a nice weapon for him.”
3. Jackson Rutledge, RHP, Nationals: Rutledge showed both what makes him an intriguing pitching prospect and what he needs to work on during his outing. While he did give up a pair of runs in his 3 1/3 innings of work, he also struck out seven and the first six batters he retired were via the K. His electric fastball topped out around 98 mph and averaged over 95 mph. His mid-80s slider had a 69-percent whiff rate, but he walked four and only threw 38 of his 73 pitches for strikes. The stuff is all there; he just needs to keep refining his command.https://www.mlb.com/news/top-performers-in-afl-championship?t=arizona-fall-league-coverage
His issue seems to be mechanically related. That makes sense, given his height and relative inexperience. He clearly loses release point and it takes him a minute to get it back.
Per TalkNats, Rutledge is rehabbing at extended ST. He had a strained biceps.