Evan Rutckyj is a native of Ontario, Canada. He was selected in the 16th round out of high school in 2010 by the New York Yankees. They sent him to the Gulf Coast League, but he threw only one scoreless inning that season.
In 2011, the Yankees returned him to the GCL. He pitched in 12 games, starting 8 of them. He accumulated 45 1/3 innings with a 4.76 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, and 24/37 BB/K ratio.
The Yankees moved him to the New York-Penn League in 2012 to their Staten Island squad to start the season. After 15 appearances, 14 of them starts, Rutckyj was moved up to Charleston of the South Atlantic League, where he made 6 starts.