ABQ

Jackson Rutledge, P

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Scouting report

After an up-and-down freshman year at Arkansas, Rutledge transferred to Houston-area junior college powerhouse San Jacinto and immediately looked like a first-round pick. He had trouble getting on the mound in Fayetteville in part due to his command, which still isn't great. Rutledge often worked 96-100 at San Jac, mixing in a comfortably-plus slider and a curveball that was closer to average. He would occasionally flash a good changeup, too, but that pitch was a distant fourth offering at the time. That's not really the case anymore, as Rutledge has hit the breaks on his curveball and spent most of 2020 focusing on his changeup, which had good fade and tailing action during spring training this year. There's clearly a starter's repertoire here, and potentially that of a very good one, but Rutledge has considerable relief risk because of his command and health history. Some clubs were scared off of his pre-draft medical, which most notably included surgery on his hip. He was a little wild during his 2019 post-draft summer, then spent 2020 behind the curtain of the alt site, and threw just one 2021 big league spring inning. It was a good inning, though. Rutledge beat up the outer half of the plate against all three batters he faced, relying heavily on his fastball, which sat 94-97, and touched 98 once. He also flashed a mid-80s slider twice, fooling the batter both times. He mixed in two changeups (which had fade but did not elicit swings), and his curveball (82) to lesser effect. He erased his only baserunner of the day with a quick pickoff move, catching the runner leaning at first, then made the rest of the batters he faced look uncomfortable and off-balance. Will he throw strikes consistently? Well, Rutledge was 6-foot-8 and 260 pounds in the past but looks considerably more svelte now and was listed at 245 this spring. Maybe that will help him better control his body/delivery. He already has a pretty short arm swing, so there's no low-hanging fruit to change there. He belongs in the back of the Top 100 purely on stuff, relief risk included, and is only just outside looking in right now because of short track record of performance and perceived injury risk. (Alternate Site)