Phillies Castoff, Former First-Round Pick Leaves MLB After ‘Undisclosed’ Setback

The Philadelphia Phillies have spent much of the season searching for pitching depth as the bullpen goes through numerous setbacks and the vaunted rotation faces some questions in the back end.

Ultimately, that led the team to take a notable chance on a former first-round pick who once appeared to have a promising future with a division rival. But after a very short stint, including a mysterious injury setback, the Phillies have now seen that player leave Major League Baseball entirely after being cut from the organization.

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Jackson Rutledge arrived in Philadelphia as a reclamation project, with the Phillies hoping their pitching infrastructure could help unlock the potential that made him the No. 17 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft.

The experiment never reached the major leagues. Instead, Rutledge’s next opportunity will come thousands of miles away.

Shortly after he was released by the Phillies, Rutledge officially left affiliated baseball and signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball.

“Jackson Rutledge is officially a SoftBank Hawk,”Yakyu Cosmopolitan reported.

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Rutledge’s path to Japan came after his time with the Washington Nationals and Phillies finally came to an end.

The Nationals, who drafted Rutledge, designated the right-hander for assignment earlier this year, creating an opportunity for Philadelphia to add a pitcher with significant prospect pedigree. But that opportunity ended without much fanfare after Rutledge experienced a mysterious setback.

“The Nats designated him for assignment, at which point the Phillies claimed him,” Steve Adams wrote for MLB Trade Rumors. “He didn’t log any big league work with Philadelphia and pitched only 10 minor league innings — missing some time along the way with an undisclosed injury — before being granted his release late last month in order to pursue the opportunity overseas.”

That makes Rutledge’s Phillies tenure one of the more unusual footnotes of the club’s pitching-depth efforts. Philadelphia saw enough in the former first-rounder to claim him, but the organization never got the chance to see whether he could contribute at the major league level.

The undisclosed injury also adds another layer of uncertainty to a career that has already taken several unexpected turns.

However, a strong stint with SoftBank could eventually put him back on the MLB radar. Players have increasingly used NPB as a place to refine their arsenals, rebuild confidence and demonstrate that their careers still have another chapter left.

The Phillies never got to see what Rutledge could become. Now, he will try to figure that out for himself in Japan.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com