Drew Rasmussen

Rasmussen has now overcome three elbow surgeries in his collegiate and professional pitching career over a span of just seven seasons, meaning he is essentially now pitching on borrowed time. Rasmussen has dreams of returning to the starting rotation where he pitched very well in 2022 and early 2023 before his most recent injury. Yet, his body of work out of the bullpen continues to be impressive. Rasmussen averaged 97.4 mph with his fastball and generated a 30.8 percent whiff rate with the pitch along with whiff rates of greater than 40 percent with both his cutter and sweeper. For context, none of Rasmussen's pitches eclipsed even a 30 percent whiff rate in 2023 and just two of them barely did so in 2022. Pete Fairbanks remains under contract for another season, so a closer role may not be immediately open for Rasmussen, but Fairbanks has yet to make it through a season healthy. Rasmussen fits nicely into the "draft skills, not roles" mold. Read Past Outlooks