BIOGRAPHY
Adley Rutschman was born February 6, 1998, in Portland, Oregon. He is a catcher in the MLB.
Rutschman was selected by the Baltimore Orioles with the first overall selection in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. He signed for $8.1 million, the highest signing bonus at the time. He made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Orioles, and, after five games, was promoted to the Aberdeen IronBirds. After three weeks with the IronBirds, Rutschman was promoted to the Class A Delmarva Shorebirds of the South Atlantic League. Over 37 games between the three clubs, he slashed .254/.351/.423 with four home runs and 26 RBIs.
At the start of the 2021 season, Rutschman was assigned to the Double-A level Bowie Baysox. In June 2021, Rutschman was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game. On August 9, 2021, Rutschman was promoted to Triple-A Norfolk Tides, after slashing a .271/.392/.508, with 18 home runs and 55 RBIs in 80 games with Bowie. He batted a .312/.405/.490 with 5 home runs and 20 RBIs in 43 games with Norfolk.
Rutschman competed for a spot on the Orioles 2022 Opening Day roster, but he missed the start of the season due to a strained triceps muscle. He began a rehabilitation assignment with Aberdeen on April 26. On May 21, 2022, Rutschman was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. During his first game, that same day, he got the start playing catcher and batting 6th in the lineup. His first major league at-bat resulted in a strikeout, but two at-bats later, he got his first hit, a triple. He was the first major-leaguer to accomplish that feat (a triple for his first MLB hit), in over two decades, since Yorvit Torrealba on September 5, 2001. On June 15, Rutschman hit his first major league home run off Toronto Blue Jays starter José Berríos. Rutschman finished the season hitting .254/.362/.445 with 35 doubles, 13 home runs and 42 RBIs in 113 games with Baltimore. He was voted the winner of the 2022 Louis M. Hatter Most Valuable Oriole Award by members of the local media.
On Opening Day in the 2023 season, Rutschman batted 5-for-5 with a home run, becoming the first MLB player to do so on Opening Day since 1937.
