Should Orioles Be Concerned About Adley Rutschman's Dreadful Season?

The Baltimore Orioles superstar catcher has been a disaster with a bat in his hands this season.

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The Baltimore Orioles are in the midst of the most nightmarish season in some time, sitting 17 games below .500 just two months into the season and without much reason to be hopeful.

With the worst pitching in baseball coupled with injuries in that department and guys all over the field just not living up to their potential, things are a mess in Baltimore right now in the wake of firing manager Brandon Hyde.

When it comes to players who have not been themselves as of late, there's one example in the lineup who might just be the most glaring.

After being named an All-Star the last two seasons following his dominant breakout 2022 campaign, star catcher Adley Rutschman's numbers have been absolutely dreadful this season.

Adley Rutschman is Having a Brutal Year For Orioles

Rutschman has slashed .208/.296/.333 this season with just four home runs and 11 RBI in 46 games. It's easy to ignore and chalk up to the team as a whole having a down season and not just Rutschman, however it's worth asking the question whether or not this is a real concern.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect is that it was not just a slow start for Rutschman bogging his numbers down, his last month was worse than the first.

In the last 30 days which have encompassed 25 games, the young catcher has slashed .210/.297/.284. He has not hit a home run in this entire period either as of Wednesday, going without a long ball since April 20.

The ugly truth is that Rutschman's numbers have been moving in the wrong direction since he incredibly accounted for a 5.4 bWAR in 113 games as a rookie.

Even though he was an All-Star last season, his slash line of .250/.318/.391 and OPS+ of 106 were not very close to what he had done in the two years prior.

Nobody thinks Rutschman was a one-hit wonder and even in a worst-case scenario he's probably still going to be a quality big leaguer for the next decade or so.

Two years ago though, it looked like Baltimore had a future superstar on their hands who was on the cusp of becoming one of the best hitters in the league.

Over the last almost 200 games, that has just not been the case for Rutschman.

It's certainly worth asking the question if he may have been even just a tad overhyped in 2022 and 2023, in turn given expectations that were impossible to live up to.

There's still plenty of time for Rutschman to turn things around this year, but it has not been pretty lately.