Adley Rutschman, Baltimore Orioles (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
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The Orioles are finally calling up Adley Rutschman to the show! One of the top prospects in baseball is set to make his MLB debut.
Rutschman will wear No. 35 with Baltimore, the number previously worn by Orioles great Mike Mussina, who went on to Cooperstown.
When Mussina was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2019, he chose not to have any logo on his plaque, as his career was split relatively evenly between the O’s and the Yankees. However, to allow a rookie and potential longtime Oriole himself (ideally) in Rutschman to rock Mussina’s No. 35 seems a bit odd by Baltimore.
“I almost split my career down the middle with two organizations,” Mussina said at the time of his induction. “Right now I couldn’t sit here and choose one or the other. They’re both instrumental in me sitting here.”
Hopefully, the Orioles already got Mussina’s blessing before handing out his number.
Orioles call up Adley Rutschman: What to expect
Rutschman was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, and rightly so. He was a dynamite catching prospect — as can’t miss as they get. He signed for a record $8.1 million signing bonus at the time.
Considered a rarity in the sports as a switch-hitting catcher and a generational prospect, Rutschman has stayed at catcher throughout his minor-league days. He’s the first of what Baltimore hopes is a long line of top prospects to be called up in the years to come from their highly-ranked farm system.
It’s been a long time coming for an O’s team which last made the playoffs in 2016, when they lost in the AL Wild Card game.
