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Baltimore Orioles: Adley Rutschman and Kevin Magee End Year With Honors

By Chuck Boemmel|
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 03: A general view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays on August 3, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 03: A general view of Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays on August 3, 2019 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)

The Baltimore Orioles recently announced their MiLB Pitcher and Player of the month for August.  Kevin Magee and Adley Rutschman were the deserving award winners.

The recent attention in the Minor League system of the Baltimore Orioles has been focused on the playoff possibilities and the playoffs themselves.  Lost amidst the playoff excitement may have been the Baltimore Orioles announcement of the organization’s MiLB Pitcher and Player of the month for August.  The team announced that left-handed pitcher Kevin Magee and catcher Adley Rutschman were the respective award winners.

Magee, the Orioles 9th round draft pick in 2018, earned the honor based on a month in which he made six starts for the Aberdeen Ironbirds (A-Short), starts that could be described as simply dominant.  In fact, his lone no-decision was a quality start (6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R) made against the Connecticut Tigers (Detroit affiliate) on August 6th in which he left with the lead only to see the bullpen falter in the end.

Magee finished the month with a 4-1 record over 33.0 total innings pitched and produced a 0.55 ERA while limiting New York-Penn League batters to a .198 batting average.   He struck out 42 batters while allowing just two walks and one home run.  Magee also produced a stretch of 14 scoreless innings that spanned all or parts of four games in August.

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The left-hander, who I called an under the radar prospect earlier this year, finished the season with a  5-6 record over 15 starts (70.2 innings) while producing a 2.04 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, all while transitioning from a reliever to a starter.

Rutschman, the 2019 overall number one draft pick, earned his award while playing for two different teams in August.  He started out the month in Aberdeen before being promoted to Delmarva (A-Low) on August 21st.

He appeared in 27 total games in August and produced a slash line of .258/ .359/ .412/ .771 with seven doubles, one triple, two home runs, 14 runs scored, and 21 RBI.  Rutschman made his final game in Aberdeen one to remember and the highlight of his month.  In that game against the Vermont Lake Monsters (Oakland affiliate) he went 5 for 5 with a triple, a homerun, one run scored and 4 RBI.

Rutschman finished his whirlwind 2019 season with a .254/ .351/ .423/ .774 slash line in 37 games over three Minor League levels and also participated in the South Atlantic League playoffs with Delmarva.  He hit four home runs, one triple and eight doubles while walking 20 times and striking out 27 times on the season.

It would be hard to argue that anyone produced a stronger month than Magee and Rutschman did.  Congratulations to these two prospects for the well-deserved recognition.

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