Phillies Claim 6-Foot-8 Pitcher Off Waivers From Nationals
Washington designated Rutledge on Tuesday to open a 40-man roster spot for Max Kranick, and the Phillies had a vacancy of their own to fill after moving pieces around their roster earlier in the week.
The Phillies have claimed RHP Jackson Rutledge off waivers from the Washington Nationals and optioned him to Lehigh Valley (AAA).
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 10, 2026
Rutledge has a 6.29 ERA in 103 big league innings across 71 appearances from 2023 through 2026, allowed seven earned runs in his only outing this season on April 13 against Pittsburgh, and spent the rest of April and all of May at Triple-A Rochester before the Nationals cut him loose.
Why Philadelphia Made the Call
Rutledge was the 17th overall pick in the 2019 draft, a 6-foot-8 right-hander who throws a 94 to 95 mph fastball and pairs it with a cutter and splitter that have generated above-average Stuff+ grades at the big league level, per TJStats.
His results have never matched it because his chase rate and whiff rate, at 27.8 and 25.6 percent respectively, have never been good enough to translate the raw quality of his arsenal into consistent outs.
The Nationals gave him 71 big league appearances to figure it out.
Nothing clicked sustainably. But the Phillies have a good track record of doing exactly what Washington could not.
Their pitching development program under pitching coordinator Brian Kaplan has turned multiple struggling arms into legitimate contributors, and the organization's Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley is frequently cited around the league as one of the better environments for pitcher development in the minors.
The Philadelphia Phillies claimed Jackson Rutledge off outright waivers.
— Nationals Communications (@NationalsComms) May 10, 2026
Rutledge has less than three years of service time and has never been outrighted before, meaning he still has options and can be moved between Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia freely for the remainder of this season and beyond.
He also fits a specific profile that the Phillies have had success with before: a big arm with power stuff and a mechanical or approach issue that proper coaching can fix.
Whether that fix actually comes is far from guaranteed.
Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
