The Very Early Returns On The Adley Rutschman Trade Look Quite Good For The Orioles

The final outcome of the Orioles shipping former first-overall pick Adley Rutschman up to Boston at the trade deadline won’t be known for years.

The O’s got a bunch of teenagers and kids just out of college for him. Way too soon to project much, overall. However, I’ll stand by everything I said at the time of the trade: Rutschman isn’t anything close to the type of winning player he was hyped to be, his initial baptism in Boston would be a failure (it has been), and the Orioles got more value than anyone could have hoped for given the realities of what Rutschman is.

And even after giving him time to rehab in the minors by the Red Sox coming off his final IL stint with Baltimore, he has been largely overwhelmed by the stress of the playoff chase there. He couldn’t handle the pressure in Baltimore once expectations got real, and he barely plays and he couldn’t hit a damn when he DHed, and him making the All-Star team was a sham.

It’s only been a few weeks. But, screw it, here’s how the very early returns are working out for the parties involved, especially these kids the O's got who now are all over their top prospects lists:

Addition By Subtraction Adley

Rutschman was a losing catcher for the Orioles this season and Samuel Basallo was a winning catcher. Facts. And the Red Sox, who were the hottest team in MLB before making this trade, enter play Saturday night 4-4 in his eight games behind the plate. Yes he has to learn new pitchers and all of that, but this guy hasn’t taken anything by storm.

His power has been sapped the past few years, even as a DH, but he did pop a homer for Boston. Problem is, that’s all he’s done in nine games and carrying an early slash of .194/.324/.323 is a cause for concern. Let’s see if he can get through the season without another injury. I’m old enough to remember the Orioles preferring James McCann to him behind the plate of Game 1 of a playoff series.

Since May 1, this guy has played just 60 games and has five homers and 34 driven in and a pathetic slash of: .215/.311/.356 for a .667 OPS. That's exactly who he has been since June 20, 2024, when the bottom starting falling out here.

Better start hitting the ball!

Anthony Eyanson

This is the key piece in that trade, a 21-year old who was eating up the vaunted Eastern League with Portland and now he’s doing the same thing with Chesapeake. Everyone who is an expert on the minors we brough on “The Daily Flock Show” raved out the kid and the early returns look awesome.

Yeah, its just three starts in this system, but hack baseball czar Mike Elias hasn’t broken him right away, so that’s a good beginning. This kid has 24 strikeouts to five walks in 17 1/3 innings in the O’s org. The only damage done against him so far are two homers, but that wasn’t an issue in his profile and the ball can carry in Bowie.

In his minor league career he has 84 Ks in 65 1/3 innings with a 1.93 ERA. They might give him a start in AAA if they wanted to, as a soft launch for a 2027 season that would begin in Norfolk.

Kyson Witherspoon

The fact that the 15th overall pick from a year ago was getting knocked around in A-ball wasn’t ideal. He’s had some command issues. The defense behind him hasn’t been great, but he also hasn’t taken the minors by storm.

Hopefully Elias has learned from his past failures and it seems like he is letting this kids to deeper into games, which is a necessary part of development. Witherspoon isn’t getting a lot of balls put into to play, but 10 walks in 14 1/3 IP is going to keep him in Frederick for what’s left of this season I figure with the schedule running low.

Now, he’s also struck out 20 batters, which you love. But there is going to have to be some real development that takes place with him.

Enddy Azocar

Really pumped to watch this kid in AA next year. He is tearing up the South Atlantic League as a very toolsy 19-yeaar old – love them tapping into his speed and athleticism right away. He stayed in the SAL with his assignment to Frederick and immediately took to being included in the deal.
He’s had a 15-game surge to start his stint with the O’s, putting together a .344/.388/.639 slash (1.027 OPS) with 16 driven in.

He has to learn to take more pitches and utilize walks to get on base – especially with his motor and four steals already in Frederick – but there is a lot to work with here and the fact he could jump farm systems at this young age and hit the ground running is pretty special.

The Orioles also got 18-year-old Harold Rivas in the trade, and he will be thoroughly bled into full-season ball next year.

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