Arizona Fall League Wrap Up
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Chuck Paiva
November 22, 2024 General Manager
401-845-6832// operations@newportgulls.com
Arizona Fall League Wrap Up
Two RHP Competed in Prestigious AFL
NEWPORT, RI – Two former Newport Gulls right-handed pitchers, Carson Rudd (Stanford) and Jimmy Kingsbury (Villanova), showcased their talents this season in the highly competitive Arizona Fall League (AFL), which recently wrapped up its 2024 campaign. The AFL is renowned for providing some of the top MLB prospects an opportunity to develop and compete at the highest level of offseason baseball.
2019 Newport Gull Carson Rudd joined the Gulls after his freshman season with the Stanford Cardinal. While with Newport, he was one of the most elite bullpen arms in the league, giving up just one run over the course of eight appearances which spanned 12.1 innings pitched. He struck out nearly two batters per inning and allowed just five hits. He was selected as a 2019 Southern Division All-Star that summer for his impressive performance on the mound.
Rudd joined the Cincinnati Reds as an undrafted free agent in 2020, which was the year that only featured a two-round draft, shortened amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since signing his professional contract, Rudd has continued to rise the ranks of the Reds organization, reaching Double-A this past season, which was also his most successful year to date.
The native of Santa Monica, CA, pitched in a total of 33 games, which included five starts. He amassed 77 innings pitched, demonstrating the ability to get opposing batters out via strikeout at a high rate. Overall, hitters barely reached a .200 average against him and was clutch under pressure, converting seven of eight save opportunities.
This led to the opportunity of competing in the Arizona Fall League, which is for Major League Baseball’s most highly touted prospects to display their talents before wrapping up for the calendar year.
Among the MLB most dangerous hitters, Rudd has once again fanned over one batter per inning (10K/9.1IP) and has a 3.86 ERA in five games.
Jimmy Kingsbury, a standout pitcher for the Newport Gulls, continued to impress on the mound as he climbs the ranks in the Seattle Mariners organization. Kingsbury, a two-time Newport Gull, most recently completed a stellar season with the Everett AquaSox, where he posted a remarkable 2.40 ERA and limited batters to a .200 average in over 200 innings pitched, getting called up to Double-A at the end of the year.
A product of Villanova University, Kingsbury first joined the Gulls in 2019, where he became a key contributor out of the bullpen. In 12 appearances that season, including two starts, Kingsbury struck out 30 batters across 22.2 innings. One of his most memorable performances came in the Southern Division Championship Series, when he allowed just three hits over 3.2 innings against the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks. He picked up right where he left off upon his return to the Gulls in 2021, where he posted a 4-0 record with a 4.07 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 24.1 innings, further solidifying his reputation as a rising talent. He left the team mid-season as he was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 17th round of the MLB Draft.
Kingsbury posted nearly identical statistics to fellow Gulls alum, Rudd, with a 3.86 ERA over 9.1 innings.
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The Newport Gulls, members of the 13-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation’s top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the community via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations – totaling over $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are eight-time champions of the NECBL – the winningest franchise in league history – and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.
For more information about the Newport Gulls, visit facebook.com/newportgulls, follow the Gulls on Twitter @NewportGulls or visit www.newportgulls.com.
