Road to the Show: Kyle Rutter

Welcome to our third segment of “Road to the Show” with Kyle Rutter.

Rutter was selected in the 41st round of the 2009 Major League Amateur Draft. Rutter’s path to becoming a pro is an interesting one, including changing his delivery upon his arrival at NC State. Rutter features impressive separation on his pitches, with his fastball sitting 85-87 and his Frisbee slider sitting around 72-74. Rutter works exclusively out of the stretch, something that is extremely rare.

This season he tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings May 31 vs. South Carolina to receive the win in the NC State’s 5-4 victory in the second round of the NCAA Raleigh Regional. During his time at Palmer Trinity High School in Palmetto Bay, FL, he earned all Dade County honors in 2004, helped win the school’s first district title in 18 years and was selected as his team’s MVP in his junior and senior seasons. So far Kyle’s success has translated to his time here in Lowell, where as of July 22, he has posted a 1.29 ERA and has struck out over a batter an inning. Rutter sat down to answer a few questions with the Spinners Blog.

Kyle Rutter's unique delivery has led him to success

Tell us a bit about your delivery and why you chose it?

After my freshman year of college I didn’t have any offspeed pitches, and I was sometimes coming under the ball from my armslot which was three quarters. The coaches gave me an option of changing my armslot to over the top or to have me bend my body over and keep the same arm angle. I decided to drop my body down and keep the same arm angle which gave me a slider and a changeup, so it was a good fit.

What pitches do you feature?

Fastball, slider, change, my slider is basically a Frisbee slider.

Describe your time at NC state, what would you say your best experience was, your most challenging?

Definitely my best experience was winning the NCAA Raleigh Regionals at home in 2008 and being able to pitch in those games and help my team win, I would have to say my most challenging experience was changing my delivery and developing new pitches, which was a lot of hard work, but it was well worth it.

You were red-shirted as a freshman at NC State why was that?

No real reason, I just wasn’t ready to be on the field and pitch

What has it been like to play here in Lowell so far?

It’s a great experience playing in front of a huge crowd and just being in this atmosphere, playing for such a great organization is also a dream come true.

What is something most people don’t know about you?

I enjoy playing Xbox, my favorite game is Call of Duty 4

Growing up who was your favorite team and player?

My favorite team was the Florida Marlins and my favorite player was Josh Beckett, so being drafted by the Red Sox was amazing, it would be great to meet him one day.

If anyone, who would you credit for helping you to get where you are today?

My college pitching coach Chris Roberts, because he was the one who heleped me develop my new delivery and really helped me develop as a pitcher.

You were teammates with Aaron Bates and Jon Still, could you tell us a bit about playing with them at NC State?

Bates is the best hitter I’ve played with at any level. He was a great teammate and had a lot of confidence in me, he helped to get me on the field and playing my sophomore year. Still is just an all around great guy, awesome player as well, I look forward to hopefully playing with both Aaron and Jon one day up in Boston.