Phillies release former division rival's first-round pick after struggles at Triple-A

The Philadelphia Phillies have been able to turn nothing into something with a handful of pitchers recently, with names like Jeff Hoffman and Cristopher Sánchez taking unexpected leaps forward. The Phils tried to catch lightning in a bottle once again with former Washington Nationals first-round pick Jackson Rutledge this year. Unfortunately, the experiment hasn’t quite turned out that way, and they cut bait on him last week.

He was dealing with an undisclosed injury and hadn't pitched since May 28. He only appeared in five games for the Phils at Triple-A.

Rutledge was selected with the 19th overall pick of the 2019 draft out of San Jacinto College. The 6-foot-8 right-hander was billed as a future starter or high-leverage reliever with a blazing fastball and excellent slider. Injuries affected his development as he missed a lot of time across 2021-2022. He went on to make his big league debut in 2023 with a tiny four-game sample, and only got into three major league contests the following year. 

Last season was Rutledge’s first extended look in the bigs and it didn’t go well. Over 73 ⅓ innings of work, he posted an ugly 5.77 ERA, surrendering 87 hits and 16 home runs with just 65 strikeouts. He only appeared in a single game for the Nats this season, where he was blasted for seven runs on six hits and two walks, while collecting just four outs.

Jackson Rutledge won't be the Phillies' next stroke of genius

The Phillies claimed the 27-year-old in early May and assigned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The same struggles have continued in the minors, as Rutledge has yielded four earned runs in only five innings pitched for the IronPigs, giving up five hits and walking three batters. He was DFA'd as the corresponding move for Derek Hill, who came over in a trade with the White Sox following Adolis García's injury.

It seems the Phillies’ front office decided there wasn’t much they could do to help the erstwhile hurler, and decided to cut their losses and designate him for assignment last Thursday. As you can imagine, there were no takers for the injured right-hander.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Rutledge returns to the club after being removed from the 40-man roster, but either way he seems to be out of the Phillies’ plans for the time being. And we can't say they'll be making the Nationals regret their decision anytime soon because he'll likely have a longer road to getting back on track.

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