Adley Rutschman

Adley Rutschman

26-Year-Old CatcherC
Baltimore Orioles
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Simba famously told us in The Lion King he laughed in the face of danger, and Rutschman certainly did the same in the face of those wondering if there would be a sophomore slump for the young catcher. The 25 year old backstop was a key cog of the AL East champion Orioles lineup finishing as the eighth-most valuable fantasy catcher and the only catcher who could claim at least 20 homers, 80+ RBIs as well as 80+ runs on their resume. If not for the misconfiguration of left field in Camden, Rutschman would have joined Cal Raleigh as the only catcher with 30 homers but that monstrosity is where most pulled flyballs go to die. Rutschman has already earned a reputation for a very discernable eye at the plate as he walks nearly as often as he strike out which is a rarity for both his age and his position. Baltimore values the bat and gave him 46 games at DH so he provides plenty of volume with the added bonus of hitting first or second in the lineup. Simply put, the acquisition cost is worth it. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#49
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $760,300 contract with the Orioles in March of 2024.
Resting up Wednesday
CBaltimore Orioles
September 25, 2024
Rutschman is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Yankees.
ANALYSIS
He'll hit the bench after starting in each of the past five games, with four coming at catcher. James McCann will fill in for Rutschman behind the dish Wednesday.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
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2023 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
83
1
3
17
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
33
1
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+8%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+43%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+15%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+61%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .818 488 53 14 62 2 .283 .375 .443
Since 2022vs Right .755 1307 169 38 139 4 .253 .342 .413
2024vs Left .902 182 19 7 33 0 .329 .390 .512
2024vs Right .631 456 49 12 46 1 .219 .289 .342
2023vs Left .895 191 25 6 24 1 .304 .414 .481
2023vs Right .777 496 59 14 56 0 .267 .359 .419
2022vs Left .552 115 9 1 5 1 .173 .287 .265
2022vs Right .889 355 61 12 37 3 .280 .386 .503
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+7%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+11%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+23%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+7%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .799 858 114 29 84 3 .269 .361 .437
Since 2022Away .748 937 108 23 117 3 .255 .342 .407
2024Home .671 312 34 10 26 0 .225 .301 .370
2024Away .745 326 34 9 53 1 .275 .334 .410
2023Home .899 323 44 14 40 1 .310 .393 .505
2023Away .728 364 40 6 40 0 .248 .357 .371
2022Home .834 223 36 5 18 2 .272 .399 .435
2022Away .781 247 34 8 24 2 .238 .328 .453
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Stat Review
How does Adley Rutschman compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.56
 
BB Rate
9.1%
 
K Rate
16.1%
 
BABIP
.272
 
ISO
.140
 
AVG
.250
 
OBP
.318
 
SLG
.391
 
OPS
.709
 
wOBA
.312
 
Exit Velocity
88.2 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
29.9%
 
Barrels/PA
4.5%
 
Expected BA
.258
 
Expected SLG
.402
 
Sprint Speed
22.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
34.5%
 
Line Drive %
22.5%
 
Fly Ball %
42.9%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2021
2020
Rutschman began the season on the minor league IL with a triceps issue. When healthy, he quickly advanced from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk before being called up on May 21. He started slow, posting a 137/.228/.196 line after 13 games, but then settled in to go .271/.380/.481 the rest of the way. Rutschman played excellent defense, finishing second among catchers with 18 defensive runs saved while exhibiting solid framing and an excellent arm. His plate discipline is stellar as demonstrated by a 13.8% walk rate and 18.3% strikeout clip. Rutschman's low 38.4% groundball rate helped him compile extra base hits with a below average fly ball exit velocity. His 35 doubles to 13 home run ratio should tilt more to the long ball as he continues to develop. As is, Rutschman is one of the top backstops in the league, assured of the lion's share of playing time for Baltimore. His ceiling is the top fantasy catcher.
On merit, Rutschman should have made his big-league debut last summer, but the Orioles are blatantly delaying his arrival, as he is the franchise cornerstone and once his clock starts, time is officially ticking on this regime showing progress in the standings. We've been saying he is the best catching prospect in over a decade for a few years now, and that remains the case. He has easy plus power to all fields, makes excellent swing decisions, and should always run high on-base percentages. Rutschman's hit tool is quite good, particularly relative to other catchers. He won't chip in on the bases, but he has a favorable home park and will occupy a favorable spot in the lineup, so he should be a four-category monster. Depending on the new CBA, Rutschman could break camp with the big club or he could be up in late April. His intangibles are off the charts, so he is a good bet to get the most out of his abilities.
The best catching prospect in recent memory, Rutschman may have debuted in 2020 if the Orioles were headed for a playoff berth, per GM Mike Elias. That didn't happen, but all signs point to Rutschman debuting sometime in his age-23 season. A switch hitter with at least 60-grade all-fields power and excellent strike zone awareness, Rutschman could hit .300 with 30 home runs annually while providing plus defense behind the plate and being one of the better team leaders in baseball. In dynasty leagues, Rutschman is already a top-two catcher, and the preferred option over J.T. Realmuto for any rebuilding team. The worse the replacement level catchers are in a fantasy league, the more value he has. An assignment to Double-A would signal that he is months away, while an assignment to Triple-A would signal he is weeks away from getting the call.
Not only was Rutschman one of the best college hitters in the 2019 draft class, but he has elite defensive tools behind the dish, making it an easy call for the Orioles to select the Oregon State product first overall. He had very poor luck on balls in play in the Gulf Coast League and Sally League, so take his .254/.351/.423 slash line across three levels with a grain of salt. His 27:20 K:BB in 37 games illustrates the switch hitter's superb control of the strike zone. He uses the whole field and should be able to hit 20-plus home runs annually without selling out for power. Rutschman won't be much of a stolen-base threat, but that's hardly a knock for a catching prospect. Baltimore's competitive window won't open anytime soon, which could delay Rutschman's debut until 2021. He is a better real-life prospect than a fantasy one, but is still the best fantasy catching prospect since Buster Posey.
More Fantasy News
Getting night off
CBaltimore Orioles
September 18, 2024
Rutschman is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Giants.
ANALYSIS
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Homers in Sunday's loss
CBaltimore Orioles
September 15, 2024
Rutschman went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and a walk in Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Tigers.
ANALYSIS
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Sitting amid slump
CBaltimore Orioles
September 1, 2024
Rutschman is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rockies.
ANALYSIS
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Resting Friday
CBaltimore Orioles
August 30, 2024
Rutschman is out of the lineup for Friday's game against the Rockies.
ANALYSIS
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Receiving Tuesday off
CBaltimore Orioles
August 20, 2024
Rutschman is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Mets, Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reports.
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Awful in second half
CBaltimore Orioles
October 17, 2024
Rutschman posted a .207/.282/.303 slash line with three home runs in 58 games during the second half of the regular season.
ANALYSIS
The 26-year-old earned a second straight All-Star nod with a .780 OPS and 16 homers through his first 90 contests of 2024, but he was unable to maintain that production across the final two-plus months of the campaign. Rutschman also labored against right-handed pitching, as he batted .209 compared to a .329 average versus lefties. He saw his workload decrease slightly from 2023 and made 45 appearances at designated hitter, and it's unclear whether his struggles were related to fatigue.
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