After a slow start to his big-league career offensively, the consensus top prospect in baseball is now on the board with his first career home run in the majors.
Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman cranked his first MLB dinger on Wednesday night vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, and the homer wasn’t a cheapie.
Rutschman hit a 411-foot blast with a 103.2 mph exit velocity off two-time All-Star pitcher Jose Berrios.
The 6’2″, 220-pound catcher — who’s viewed by publications such as FanGraphs as a 70 Future Value prospect — entered Wednesday with a .176/.256/.257 slash line in 82 plate appearances after making his MLB debut in May. But hitting major-league pitching is really, really hard, and many current stars struggled early in their careers. That’s totally normal.
What you want to see are the flashes and adjustments. Rutschman certainly showed what he’s capable of with that home run, and he’s started to show some overall improvements at the plate lately. On Saturday, for example, he went 3-for-4 with two doubles.
And it’s also important to keep in mind how valuable decent to good offensive production is out of the premium position at catcher. Rutschman is a highly regarded backstop.
Orioles fans haven’t had a whole lot to be excited about over the last many years, but Rutschman provides some needed hope.
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