BALTIMORE ORIOLES TOP 10 PROSPECTS
1. ADLEY RUTSCHMAN, C
AGE: 22. B-T: B-R. HT: 6-2. WT: 216. DRAFTED: Oregon State, 2019 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Brandon Verley.
TRACK RECORD: A celebrated recruit who won Oregon high school state player of the year in 2016, Rutschman accomplished everything there was to do in college at Oregon State. He led the Beavers to the College World Series title in 2018, led USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team in nearly every offensive category the following summer and entered 2019 as the consensus top draft prospect in the class. He lived up to it by hitting .411 with a nation-leading .575 on-base percentage and won both the Golden Spikes Award and the BA College Player of the Year Award. The Orioles drafted him No. 1 overall and signed him for a draft-record $8.1 million. A case of mononucleosis after he signed delayed Rutschman’s pro debut nearly a month, but he still climbed three levels after signing and wowed teammates and coaches at each stop, finishing with low Class A Delmarva for its playoff run.
There are no apparent holes in Rutschman’s game for him to address. Defensively, he’s a pitcher’s dream in terms of his advanced framing and above-average pop times on throws to second base, and just four of the 11 basestealers against him in pro ball were successful. He called some of his own games as an amateur and took well to game calling once he signed. At the plate, the switch-hitting Rutschman shows a swing tooled for both average and
