Adley Rutschman is in turmoil following a disappointing loss, and the coaching staff is under suspicion.
READ MORE…….
In Major League Baseball, this sequence of events occurs approximately 270 times daily: the pitcher registers the third out of the inning, and the catcher advances toward his dugout. The broadcast ends. Tourists pour onto the concourses. Even keen observers of the sport would likely struggle to characterize the mundane path that each catcher travels.
All but Adley Rutschman, the best prospect in the game, the Orioles’ best chance at rebuilding the organization, and a 24-year-old who is still bouncing off his crouch and jogging toward the mound to welcome his pitcher near the foul line.
It’s a move you see often enough in Little League. No one with Baltimore can remember seeing it in professional baseball. And no one is entirely sure what Rutschman says out there, including the pitchers he is addressing. But they like it.
“It really fired us up and kind of got the juices flowing, I’d say, in the dugout,” says first baseman Trey Mancini, who first noticed the move after reliever Cionel Pérez escaped a jam in the 10th inning against the Rays on Sunday. “It was actually really fun to see.”