The Nationals hope Jackson Rutledge is their next great pitcher. He's getting there.
Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post
Dec. 31, 2020
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Jackson Rutledge, shown on June 17, 2019, is one of the Nationals' top prospects.Washington Post photo by Katherine Frey
Jackson Rutledge threw a pitch, felt his shoulder move in a way he didn't intend, then turned to Brad Holman, the Washington Nationals' pitching coordinator, to break his delivery down.
"My scapula retraction was bad on that one," Holman recalled Rutledge telling him. This was this past summer at the Nationals' alternate site in Fredericksburg, Va. The new stadium was empty. Few watched while Rutledge, the organization's top prospect, turned a routine bullpen session into a physics lab. The 21-year-old often pores over the spin efficiency of his pitches, horizontal and vertical break, how he can use his body - like his scapula, for example - to find optimal movement.