Orioles' Adley Rutschman Is Living Up to the Hype as MLB's Next Great Catcher

There's at least one good explanation for how the Baltimore Orioles are still winning despite the trade of two of their top players.

They have one of the best catchers in Major League Baseball in Adley.

When the Orioles drafted him at the top of the first baseman's class, they predicted that he would become what he is today. When he made his debut as a consensus top-five prospect in 2020 and ascended to the top spot in Baseball America's rankings for the next four years, people continued to compare him to another catcher.

With great hype comes great responsibility to live up to it. Even though he was in the majors by May 21, he ate a diet of humble pie as he hit.176 with no home runs through his first 20 games.

He finally got off the schneid with his first home run on June 15.

Since that time, things have not been the same for the Orioles.

He's tied for the most fWAR of any American League hitter not named Judge since June 15 and he has a................. The Orioles went on a 34-20 run after losing on that date. The Houston Astros and SeattleMariners have won more games than any other club in the American League.

The Orioles have a small chance of making the playoffs. Given how far they've come after losing 100 games in each of the last three seasons and how much Rutschman has to do with it, the man deserves at least some down-ballot love in the American League Most Valuable Player voting.

Assuming he doesn't fade down the stretch. He seems to be getting more comfortable with each game he plays.

The hitter is advertised.

It wasn't until last year that he got to play a full season in the minor league. He slashed............................

There weren't any nit-picks to be found in scouting reports on the numbers of a complete hitter. He was praised for his ability to make contact and for his eye for strike zone.

The skills didn't show through after he arrived in the majors, but they have recently.

He had a strikeout percentage of 22.0 and a walk percentage of 7.3. He has improved his numbers to 16.4 and 15.9 over the last 50 games.

Evidently a fan of having his cake and eating it too, Rutschman hasn't sacrificed any of what Baseball America deems to be "potentially elite power" to get his approach on track. He has a.518 batting average with a 39.9 hard-hit rate and a 9.1 barrel percentage.

There is a place where Rutschman has turned a corner. Through 20 games, his run value was minus 7.8. He and Yordan lvarez are the 10th and 11th best hitters in the American League.

The game seems to be slow for a young player. His offense is only a small part of it.

The defender is also advertised.

He was always supposed to offer more than just adequate defense behind the plate. He was projected to be an advanced receiver and have a strong arm.

It was obvious early on that the goods were there.

Zachary Silver @zachsilver

The second caught stealing of Adley Rutschman's career:--1.86 seconds on the pop time--85.2 mph on the throw

--1 fist pump on the excitement pic.twitter.com/tWMt0wU1Hf

He was only 2-for-15 throwing out runners through July 15. That isn't the case anymore. Since then, he's thrown runners out five times.

The fact that he hasn't recorded a passed ball is no small credit to him. He shines in framing strikes.

Zachary Silver @zachsilver

Adley Rutschman entered today 11th in strike rate, at 49.2 percent. That will go up with a frame like this one: pic.twitter.com/joUMrDZ6nO

Maybe he's not Jose Trevino yet, but he's tied for ninth in the catcher framing runs metric. He's moving in the right direction, as his called-strike rates both outside and inside are going up.

It's fair to ask how much skill and reputation a catcher has. It may be less so with the man. It's hard to believe that umpires are programmed to give him the benefit of the doubt on close calls when he's just 69 games into his career.

It takes a lot of skill to be able to frame strikes all over the zone. When he has to make a pitch off the corner of the plate to his right, he is the only true shortcoming.

We're not saying that this alone explains why the Orioles pitchers have a 3.66 earned run average with Rutschman behind the plate compared to 4.41 when Robinson Chirinos catches.

It's only going to get better for the team.

It's likely that his framing skills won't be useful for a long time. The strike zone is likely to come to the majors in twenty four years.

Both the Orioles and Rutschman should be starting.

His prime is likely still ahead of him even though he is living up to the comparisons. There's no better example for him to follow than the man himself, who was brilliant as a young player in 2010 but even better later in life. He was the National League's most valuable catcher between 2012 and 2015, and he was also the National League's Most Valuable Player.

While the supporting cast around Rutschman is already strong, they're far from done harvesting talent from a farm system that was rated as MLB's best after the 2020 draft.

If Rodriguez makes a strong recovery from his lat strain, he should be in the Orioles' starting rotation. He won't have to take the blame for the offense for a long time. With 18 homers, 18 stolen bases and a.959 OPS, Henderson is quickly running out of things to prove in the minor leagues.

High-priced veterans are what the Orioles don't have. On MLB Network Radio last weekend, general manager Mike Elias said that a big offseason splurge is coming.

The Orioles were a seller at the trade deadline. The teams that want to win don't usually trade away their best players, like the one who is under club control for two more seasons, like the closer, who is under club control for another two years.

There is no question that the long game the Orioles have been playing since they went into rebuilding mode is shortening. It is time for the franchise to make a run at the World Series.

Nobody should forget that it was Rutschman who put the key in the ignition when things went crazy in Baltimore.

Baseball reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant provide the statistics.