WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Spend a little time around Jackson Rutledge, and you will learn that he doesn’t use the language of a normal pitcher, much less one who is 24 years old. While others know how their bodies work, the right-hander will talk about his “hips counterrotating and turning into posterior pelvic tilt.” While most modern pitchers turn to data, Rutledge gets into the weeds. And while plenty of pitchers have curious minds, it’s usually not the first thing their coaches mention about them.

But that’s Rutledge, the Washington Nationals’ 2019 first-round pick who has always wanted to know the “why” in everything, a trait he concedes probably drove his parents crazy. It’s also a reason the Nationals kept him around camp until Sunday, when he was optioned to Class AAA Rochester: Manager Dave Martinez figures his time in their rotation is not much further away and wanted him to ask as many questions as he could. He started in the “Spring Breakout” game between the Nationals and New York Mets, intended to let young prospects shine; if all works out, he will be another young arm in the stable alongside MacKenzie Gore (25), Josiah Gray (26) and Cade Cavalli (25).

In many ways, Rutledge is the hyper-realized version of a modern MLB pitcher: not just tall but 6-foot-8, not just analytically oriented but the sort of pitcher whose relationship with numbers is so tight that it has led to overthinking, though that’s a problem he hopes he has started to curb. Rutledge, who made his MLB debut this past September, had two solid starts and two subpar ones for the Nationals last year and finished with a 6.75 ERA with the big league club. His minor league ERA sat at 3.71, down from a career 4.53 ERA in affiliated ball.

For Washington, which has previously employed a more old-school approach than other organizations, Rutledge lines up with a desire to modernize. This year, from pitching coach Jim Hickey down through pitching strategist Sean Doolittle, the Nationals are speaking the same language.

“Although I am well versed in it, I sometimes even have a lot of questions,” Rutledge said. “So just having the staff and just the ability to talk to people and kind of figure out: ‘Let’s put this in English. What does this mean in baseball terms?’ It’s really nice.”

“I think we’ve come a long way in a short period of time,” General Manager Mike Rizzo said. “We’ve got a lot of bright young analytical minds that sit right outside of my office, and you’ve seen them interacting with the baseball people and the coaching staff. We’ve got more technology then we’ve ever had; we’ve got more manpower to handle that technology. I think that we will slowly indoctrinate that into the coaching staff.”

Keeping with that pursuit, the Nationals were in close contact with Rutledge’s offseason trainer at Premier Pitching Lab, a data-focused complex in his home state of Missouri that he began attending at 14 and interned at after his freshman year of college. That year, the lab’s director of pitching, Cody Fick, recounts, Rutledge wanted to add a slider. For other pitchers, that could take months. For Rutledge, it was largely an observational pursuit: He watched other pitchers at the lab and needed just a few mound sessions to get that in his system.

“Seeing him observe at a high level, it’s probably his strongest characteristic,” Fick said. “I think that speaks to the type of athlete he is but also the type of filter he has for information and data.”

“He contributes to the environment of the building when he’s in it,” said Jason Immekus, the lab’s head throwing trainer. “He’s thoughtful, respectful to everyone, no matter who they are, if they can help him or not.”

The question, then, becomes whether Washington is prepared to work with a player with Rutledge’s mind for data. In spring training, coaches and front-office personnel have said that’s an answer that’s trending in the right direction, that the relationship with members of the team’s research and development staff has also grown stronger with another year together — people are starting to speak the same language. They also brought in some new voices from forward-thinking organizations.

With a young roster, coaches have noted that pitchers have been particularly eager for feedback. Many times, younger pitchers have been willing to stop in the middle of a bullpen session to debrief pitch sequencing or look at pitch shapes.

Though pitchers at his height have been known to take longer to develop — it’s harder to sync up mechanics with consistency at 6-8 than it is at, say, 6-2 — there are signs that Rutledge is moving in the right direction. He said pitching has started to feel effortless and his stamina has increased because he’s using his lower half better, having fully recuperated from hip surgery he underwent in college. He dropped his curveball from his arsenal and added a cutter.

“He’s the ultimate competitor, but he’s on that side of things that he wants to utilize the information that is available and create different types of edges for himself,” Fick said. “And he’s got a brain that allows him to get into all of those things.”

And yet?

“Once ‘pitch one’ starts, it’s all about competing,” Rutledge said. “There’s no more, like, ‘Oh, this pitch is 7 percent more effective,’ or whatever it is. It’s just about beating that guy in the box.”