Orioles' Adley Rutschman just got called out by ESPN, but they have a good point

In what has been a pretty surprising development, Adley Rutschman has become a bit of a polarizing figure amongst Baltimore Orioles fans. All of the promise after Rutschman was picked first overall has been replaced with lingering uncertainty regarding his future with the team after a pair of down seasons and some injury troubles. There has even been a good bit of chatter as to whether or not the Orioles will trade Rutschman in the aftermath of Baltimore finally calling up Samuel Basallo.

At the moment, it is hard to get a read on what the Orioles will do exactly. Giving up on a first overall pick definitely doesn't come with great optics, but there is no denying that Rutschman has struggled. With so many different needs across their roster, there is some actual merit to moving Rutschman to help address those needs especially if Baltimore believes in Basallo as a catcher.

You can count ESPN's Bradford Doolittle among those that is a bit skeptical of Rutschman. In Doolittle's recent roundup of the biggest successes and failures for each MLB team in 2025, Doolittle named Rutschman as the Orioles' failure. In all honesty, he isn't exactly wrong.

ESPN's Bradford Doolittle is decidedly not a fan of Adley Rutschman's 2025 season

To his credit, Doolittle clearly noted that a lot went wrong with the Orioles this season. but he did call Rutschman an "avatar for a number of shortcomings" for the team which is...not overly flattering. In the piece, Doolittle noted both Rutschman's underperformance as well as the injury issues he has dealt with.

Again, all of those things are true. Rutschman's .227/.310/.373 is a far cry from what Orioles fans were hoping for out of him and the only reason his WAR numbers have remained reasonable was because of his work behind the plate. Combine that with head, oblique, and abdominal injuries this season and you have quite the cocktail of disappointment.

One shouldn't write off Rutschman completely just yet, however. It isn't like he isn't the same extremely talented guy that was the talk of baseball a couple of years ago. There is also the matter that while Basallo has had some nice moments, the guy isn't exactly lighting the world on fire at the plate since getting his extension, either. It is tough to say what the best path forward is, but it is still very clear that the road Rutschman and the Orioles have gone down lately hasn't been smooth.

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