Rutledge embracing full-time switch to bullpen role

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The conversation happened a few weeks ago and was the type of conversation that doesn’t always go over well with the player involved.

The Nationals used their first round pick in 2019 on Jackson Rutledge because they believed he could be a frontline starting pitcher for them for a long time. Now, nearly six years later, they were telling the right-hander they wanted to convert him into a reliever, a tacit acknowledgement the original plan never came to fruition.

So, how did Rutledge take that news from manager Davey Martinez earlier this spring?

“I’m here to just help the team win,” he said. “Obviously, we’ve signed a few guys since that conversation, but it’s kind of like, we need bullpen arms. They’re really important to winning games, a lot of times even more important sometimes than a starter. I feel like if I can be a guy that keeps us in a lot of games, can pitch long innings, pitch short innings, whatever it may be, I feel like I can help the team get a bunch of wins this year.”

So it was that Rutledge officially made the transition from a guy who tries to throw as many innings as possible every five days to a guy who tries to throw one or two innings at a time every two or three days.

The results so far this spring haven’t been anything to write home about. In five appearances totaling eight innings, he has allowed five runs on six hits, with seven walks and eight strikeouts. There are a couple of spots up for grabs in the Nats’ Opening Day bullpen, but his chances of winning one of them are pretty slim at this point.

It’s not just about making the team out of spring training, though. It’s about resurrecting a wayward career and perhaps making it back to the majors at some point in a new role that could offer some long-awaited stability.

“I think at this point, it was more or less looking at his stuff and where we can get the most out of it,” Martinez said. “He comes in the game now and he’s 96-97 (mph). You don’t see the 92-93, because he knows you’ve got one job to do. It’s to get that one guy out and go move on to the next guy. There’s no saving for later innings. … I think it’s definitely going to help him. I think we feel like, in the long run, we could definitely use him in the bullpen.”

The 17th overall pick out of San Jacinto Junior College in Texas, Rutledge always looked like a fast-track candidate to reach the majors. The 6-foot-8 righty was a physically imposing presence on the mound, with a mid-90s fastball and a starter’s repertoire.

But injuries stunted his progress for a while, and once he was healthy for good, he just wasn’t that effective. In 93 career minor league games (all starts), he owns a 5.09 ERA and 1.426 WHIP.

The Nationals did give Rutledge a chance to make four major league starts in September 2023, and he was poised to be the first starter promoted from Triple-A last spring until a minor ankle injury left him unavailable when Josiah Gray landed on the injured list in mid-April. Mitchell Parker instead got the call and wound up making 29 big league starts. DJ Herz would later get called up to replace an injured Trevor Williams and made 19 starts.

Rutledge would be called up three times during the season, but in each case for only one day because the team had an immediate need for a fresh arm. He was pretty sharp in a July start in Milwaukee, and then tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief on the final day of the season, but by that point it was clear he had been leapfrogged on the organizational depth chart.

Coming into this spring, the Nationals already had right-handers Brad Lord and Tyler Stuart ready to start in Rochester, plus two of the three contenders who don’t win the No. 5 starter’s job (Parker, Herz, Shinnosuke Ogasawara). With Cade Cavalli likely to pitch sometime early this season, and Andry Lara also a potential Triple-A starter, there just wasn’t an obvious place for Rutledge in the rotation.

The Nats have taken the same approach with Cole Henry, who not long ago was considered one of their top starting prospects but has been unable to stay healthy. Henry is now also working exclusively as a reliever, his upper-90s fastball making him a potentially exciting late-inning weapon down the road.

“His stuff is really good,” Martinez said of Henry. “Eventually, I could see him maybe pitching some high-leverage situations with the stuff that he has. … It’s good. We know that we could count on those two guys for sure.”

Rutledge is ready to embrace the new role. He turns 26 on April 1. At this point, this may be his last, best chance at sticking in the major leagues.

He’s even finding the silver lining in this career move. Notoriously religious with his weekly routine, he now understands he has no choice but to learn how to be ready at a moment’s notice if the bullpen phone rings.

“I think this is genuinely like an unanswered prayer of how to learn how to be fluid, how to learn how to be more relaxed,” he said with a laugh. “It’s working so far. I’m sure there’s going to be times where it’s going to be difficult. But I’m just kind of sticking with: I’ve got to adjust because I have to, and that’s just part of the role.”