Adley Rutschman’s impact isn’t hard for Brandon Hyde to quantify.
“The record kind of speaks for itself,” Hyde said.
From the start of the 2019 season — Hyde’s first as the manager of a rebuilding team — to Rutschman’s debut May 21, 2022, the Orioles won 34.7% of their games (147-277). Since the star catcher arrived in the big leagues, Baltimore has won 57.7% of its games (97-71), competing for a playoff spot last year and looking poised to do so again this season.
“Our season definitely changed when he got here last year, and I think he was a huge part of that,” the fifth-year manager added.
For as long as Rutschman is on the Orioles and the club is competitive, May 21 could become a holiday of sorts. It won’t only be an annual reminder of when the franchise star — a No. 1 overall pick and consensus No. 1 prospect — finally arrived, but the point at which the Orioles transformed from a rebuilding cellar-dweller into a playoff contender.
It’s been a year since Rutschman first donned an Orioles uniform in a big league game. Here are 10 of his best moments, ranked, in the 365 days since.
Rutschman’s performance Aug. 5 was nothing spectacular, as he went 0-for-2 with two walks at the plate. But it’s what he did at the end of the game that mattered.
For the first time, Rutschman caught Bautista in a ninth-inning save situation.
Bautista, who broke out last season and became the Orioles’ closer after the trade deadline, had a few saves before the August contest against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was his first with Rutschman behind the plate.
It wasn’t the first time Rutschman hugged a pitcher at the end of the game, but it was the first time he’d done so after catching a save by Bautista.
Since, the 6-foot-2 catcher and the 6-8 reliever have teamed up to slam the door more than a dozen times, and even added a fist bump celebration.
As the consensus No. 1 prospect in the sport, Rutschman was well-known before he stepped on a big league field. But it was in the birthplace of Little League baseball where Rutschman played on a national stage for the first time.
On Aug. 21, the Orioles took on the Boston Red Sox in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for Baltimore’s first nationally televised game since 2018.
Baltimore won, 5-3, and Rutschman went 1-for-4 with a walk. Before the game, Rutschman and other Orioles players hung out with the kids in attendance, even sliding down the iconic hill at Lamade Stadium.
Through Saturday, Rutschman has played in all 46 games. In the few he hasn’t started, Hyde has called on him to pinch-hit.
Fittingly, the young backstop came through in one of his first opportunities off the bench.
On July 16, Baltimore trailed Tampa Bay by one run in the eighth inning. Rutschman’s pinch-hit solo homer tied the game, which the Orioles eventually won, 6-4, in 11 innings. He also hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th.
During the dog days of the rebuild, many Orioles fans dreamed of the day Rutschman would be catching Rodriguez.
They got just that April 5.
Rodriguez made his major league debut in Texas against the Rangers, and Rutschman, his friend and fellow highly touted prospect, was there to catch him. Rodriguez pitched five innings of two-run ball and the Orioles lost, 5-2, but it was the first of what should be many games for the batterymates.
About a month later, the two would team up again as they had for most of the right-hander’s starts, but this time they carried the Orioles to victory. Rodriguez pitched a career-high 5 2/3 innings to beat the MLB-best Rays, and Rutschman hit a two-run homer to give the Orioles a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The home run was just the start.
Two days later on June 17, Rutschman hit an RBI single in the seventh inning to propel the Orioles to a 1-0 win over the Rays.
The RBI was his first at Camden Yards, and the game-winning hit was the first of his career. Oh, and he also caught all nine innings of Baltimore’s shutout victory courtesy of Dean Kremer and three relievers.
In just his second big league game, Rutschman scored the winning run on Rougned Odor’s walk-off fielder’s choice in the 11th inning over the Rays.
It was Baltimore’s first win with Rutschman on the roster and the club’s third walk-off victory in a span of four days.
An inning earlier, Rutschman did something reliever Cionel Pérez had “never experienced before.” After Pérez got out of a jam in the 10th inning of a tie game May 22, Rutschman, who is known to meet pitchers near the foul line after innings, gave the left-hander a chest bump and celebrated with exuberant screams.
The start of Rutschman’s rookie season wasn’t perfect. That’s what made him finishing the year as the Most Valuable Oriole and the American League Rookie of the Year runner-up even more impressive.
The switch-hitter was slashing a paltry .176/.256/.257 through his first 20 games without an RBI. Then he hit his first home run, and ever since, he hasn’t just been the Orioles’ best hitter, but one of the best players in the major leagues.
In Toronto, the same place he’s celebrating the one-year anniversary of his debut, Rutschman blasted his first home run — crushing a fastball from José Berrios 411 feet to straightaway center field June 15. From that point on, Rutschman slashed .272/.384/.488.
The long ball was the first of 13 that season and 20 so far in his career.
For much of April and the beginning of May, the Orioles didn’t lose a series, winning seven straight to emerge as the second-best team in the major leagues — a position they still own.
The first of those series wins was delivered by Rutschman and a majestic walk-off home run.
Leading off the ninth inning April 13, Rutschman clobbered a fastball 405 feet to right-center field to give the Orioles an 8-7 win over the Oakland Athletics. Rutschman said he “kind of blacked out” when he made contact with the ball and as he rounded the bases — a trip that ended with a bath from two Gatorade coolers.
It was his first walk-off homer as a big leaguer and just the second in his life. The blast put Baltimore back above .500 — a spot they’ve been ever since.
He started slow as a rookie. The same wouldn’t be true for his sophomore year.
Rutschman made history in more ways than one March 30 against the Red Sox in Baltimore’s 10-9 victory.
He went 5-for-5 with a home run to become the first hitter to do so on opening day since 1937. In the live-ball era, only Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Billy Herman had recorded five hits without making an out while driving in multiple runs in their team’s first game. Rutschman tallied four RBIs.
The 25-year-old also walked, making him the only Oriole to record five hits or reach base six times on opening day since the team moved to Baltimore in 1954.
On May 20, 2022, Triple-A Norfolk manager Buck Britton called Rutschman into his office to tell the young catcher that he was heading to Baltimore to make his debut. Some of his Tides teammates — a few of whom have debuted since — rushed in, grabbing Rutschman and celebrating in the office.
A day later, Rutschman stepped onto Camden Yards’ field as a major leaguer for the first time. Before he got into his catcher’s squat, he surveyed his new office — later saying he wanted to “soak it all in.”
The crowd at Oriole Park cheered Rutschman every chance it got — none more so than when he recorded his first career hit, a triple down the right field line.
The Orioles lost the game, 6-1, to the Tampa Bay Rays, but a new era of Baltimore baseball was born.
“I’ve said so many great things about him, and rightfully so, but he handled that so well,” Hyde said Saturday when asked about Rutschman’s debut. “For a guy that young to be able to kind of handle the spotlight like that and the anticipation of what he’s gonna look like in the big leagues, what he’s gonna bring to our team. He’s just a pro. He’s been everything as advertised and way, way more — the kind of person he is as well as the player he is.”
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