The Nationals announced they’ve designated reliever Jackson Rutledge for assignment. That opens the 40-man roster spot for Max Kranick, who has officially signed a major league deal with the team.
Rutledge was the 17th overall pick in the 2019 draft. The hulking 6’8″, 240-pound righty spent most of his minor league career as a starter. He never developed consistent enough control to stick in an MLB rotation and moved to the bullpen after the 2024 season. He held a middle relief role for almost all of last year, his first extended big league action.
After an encouraging April, the righty allowed an earned run average north of 6.00 in each of the next three months. Rutledge pitched well in August but struggled again to close the season. The Nats optioned him to Triple-A Rochester to begin this year, only calling him up for one day on April 13.
The Pirates tagged Rutledge for seven runs on six hits and a couple walks over 1 1/3 innings in his lone appearance. Rutledge has given up seven runs (five earned) across 13 1/3 frames in the minors. He has only fanned nine of 59 batters faced while walking eight and tossing four wild pitches.
Washington has five days to trade Rutledge or expose him to waivers. He has draft pedigree but hasn’t found a ton of success at either the MLB or Triple-A levels. His fastball is in the 94-95 mph range this year and he’s mixing a cutter and splitter. If another team believes they can unlock some of his early-career promise, they could option him to the minors for the remainder of the season. Rutledge has never been outrighted and has less than three years of service time, so the Nationals would keep him in the organization if he clears waivers.
