Adley Rutschman return gives Orioles needed boost behind the plate

Adley Rutschman may not be the Baltimore Orioles best player, but the last few years have shown that they're a different team when he is in the lineup and hitting well. Thankfully, he was activated from the injured list on Tuesday while Sam Huff was designated for assignment.

After a discouraging end to his 2024 season and a disappointing 2025 campaign, it looked like Rutschman was finally back on track before a mysterious ankle injury put him on the IL. In his absence, it became clear how much futility he was covering for as the Orioles struggled to get production out of the middle of their lineup where Rutschman had been hitting.

With Rutschman out, hitters that the Orioles were hiding further down in the lineup were forced into the top half of the lineup, and the offense suffered accordingly. Dylan Beavers, Samuel Basallo, and even Johnathan Rodriguez all fell short while acting as the cleanup hitter. With the on-base skills of Gunnar Henderson and Taylor Ward, the four-hole hitter gets a lot of first-inning at-bats with runners on and two outs.

Without Adley Rutschman, the Orioles offense was sluggish

During the 10 games that Rutschman missed, the Orioles squandered multiple opportunities to take the early lead in games. As a result, the Orioles had to play from behind in the majority of games that Rustchman missed.

And it wasn't just in the first inning that doomed the Orioles offense without Rutschman. In general, the lineup has been terrible during his time on the IL. There were some decent scoring totals in wins, but Baltimore has been completely reliant on single-inning bullpen implosions in order to score enough to win. Scuffling the entire game and hoping you can hang a massive number on a reliever is not a sustainable way to win games in the big leagues, which is why the Orioles have lost more than they've won over this stretch.

While Rutschman's return helps the top of the order, it also helps the bottom of the order. Now that he and Basallo will be taking up most of the DH at-bats, that means fewer games where Beavers, Coby Mayo, and Colton Cowser are operating as the team's designated hitter.

Rutschman's return also comes at a good time for Basallo, who had a great night at the plate in the Orioles first game against the Kansas City Royals but had been openly showing extreme frustration. The pressure to step up and be the team's primary catcher while Rutschman was out may have been too much for the young backstop to handle.

The Orioles managed to tread water during Rutschman’s absence, and now that he has returned, they hope that this will be the beginning of their playoff push.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow