In November 2018, Jackson Rutledge sent out the following tweet: “Excited to be heading back to the SEC next year to play at the University of Kentucky!”
So much has changed since then for Rutledge, whose journey took him to the Nationals’ first-base dugout on Monday just minutes after the team announced his signing.
The lanky right-handed pitcher, towering over most of the assembled media, bypassed Kentucky this past season to become the top junior college hurler in the country at San Jacinto in Texas.
“Honestly if you asked me a year-and-a-half ago where I would be I would not have said the first round,” the 6-foot-8 pitcher said.