95-98 / 101
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.
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Look out, NASA. Prospects were launching small spheres from Florida into orbit at high speeds on Thursday.
The Twins Alex Kirilloff rocketed a first-pitch offering from Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez to deep center in the second inning of Minnesota s 5-4 loss to Boston. Kirilloff s shot had an exit velocity of 106.3 mph and traveled 420 feet, demonstrating that the 23-year-old outfielder/first baseman is capable of flashing impressive power even in left-on-left matchups.
The dinger was the first this spring for the No. 26 prospect, who s 3-for-16 with a walk over seven Grapefruit League games. Kirilloff has 36 homers to go with a .317/.365/.498 slash line of 279 Minor League games since 2016.
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Despite tying for last in the National League East at the end of last year s truncated season, the Nationals are still only one campaign removed from capturing the organization s first World Series title. Entering 2021, they still have the relatively depleted farm system that comes with that territory. The ceiling of the group took a few more hits in 2020 (though for good reasons) when former Top-100 talents Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia both graduated from prospect status. Among those that remain, there are still some defining characteristics to be found among the collection.
The Nationals have one Top-100 prospect entering 2021 in No. 99 Cade Cavalli, but he forms just one part of what Washington front-office members call the Big Three, alongside Jackson Rutledge and Cole Henry. The use of big there is quite literal. All three right-handers stand at 6-foot-4 or above and feature plus to plus-plus fastballs. Considering Cavalli, Rutledge and Henry were first
Rutledge was a first-round selection in 2019, and he spent last season at the Nationals’ alternate training site. The 6-foot-8 right-handed pitcher is the franchise’s second-best prospect, according to Baseball America, but has limited time at the professional level, pitching 10 games across Rookie and Single-A levels.
Cole Henry is another right-handed pitcher, and Baseball America lists him as the third-best prospect in the pipeline. He joins left-hander Tim Cate, left-hander Matt Cronin, first baseman Drew Mendoza, catcher Israel Pineda, right-hander Tyler Dyson, shortstop Jackson Cluff and catcher Raudy Read as the prospects included as non-roster invites.
In total, Washington added 32 non-roster invites to camp, bringing its spring training total to 71 they have 39 players on the 40-man roster. Among the veterans is outfielder Gerardo Parra, who made a splash in the team’s 2019 World Series run with his “Baby Shark” walk-up music. Parra spent last season playing in
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