Phillies mocked to take JuCo pitcher in latest Baseball America mock draft

In the latest Baseball America mock draft, they projected the Phillies to take a junior college pitcher at No. 14 overall.

Given the Phillies’ success this year, the 2019 MLB draft is probably not on your mind. It is still a month away, but that hasn’t stopped Baseball America from keeping tabs on the upcoming draft.

BA released their latest mock draft Friday morning [subscription required] with a new name being mocked to Philadelphia. BA predicts them to take right-handed pitcher Jackson Rutledge from San Jacinton junior college in Texas.

Rutledge is the second-best JuCo prospect behind Carter Stewart in this class and No. 15 overall according to BA’s Top 400. He pitched his freshman year at Arkansas but transferred to San Jacinton after tearing his hip labrum.

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Carlos Collazo of BA detailed how Rutledge improved last summer using the Rapsodo machine under the tutelage of now-Mariners bullpen coach Brian Delunas. It allowed him to hone a slurvy breaking ball into the slider he uses today.

Rutledge is an imposing presence on the mound, standing at 6’8″ and weighing 260 pounds. His fastball has climbed into the upper 90s this year after being in the low 90s in high school.

Rutledge’s fastball is his best pitch with his slider as mentioned above and changeup rounding out his arsenal. BA stated that Rutledge could be well suited to be a workhorse pitcher down the road.

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Previous mock drafts from BA had Philadelphia taking high school right-handed pitcher Daniel Espino, Kentucky lefty Zach Thompson, and Clemson shortstop Logan Davidson. In this iteration, Espino fell to No. 29, Thompson went No. 13, and Davidson was picked at No. 18.

This far out from the draft, it’s still hard to pin down how the board will shake out. BA has relative confidence about the top three teams in the draft (Orioles, Royals, and White Sox) but beyond them much is still in the air. Things generally get nailed down in the two weeks leading up to the draft, as we saw with Mickey Moniak in 2016 and Alec Bohm in 2018.

Based on the varied picks BA has given Philadelphia in their mock drafts, it’s clear they haven’t honed in on one player (or even one type of player) precisely.