This is the first time that Rutschman has gone on the IL in his career.
The injury bug has bitten the Orioles again. Ahead of the start of Saturday’s game against the Yankees, the team placed Adley Rutschman on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain. Maverick Handley has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.
This is a disappointment if not a surprise after Rutschman was suddenly scratched within an hour of first pitch before Friday’s game. At the time, the Orioles described the issue as left abdominal tightness. He was out of the original starting lineup on Saturday and after an MRI, the O’s placed him on the injured list with the oblique being announced.
It’s tough for the Orioles and for Rutschman because he had been hitting better over the last month or so and it’s going to be a big drop-off in offense to his replacement, Handley. Over 46 plate appearances, Handley was batting .075/.136/.075 in his previous stint, and there wasn’t much in the batted ball data to suggest he deserved better than that.
Obliques are one of those things that, once injured, seem to linger for a while. Since the IL announcement was so close to the start of the game, there was no immediate timetable provided from the team, but I’m guessing we won’t see Rutschman until after the trade deadline. If it ends up being a more severe strain, it’ll be longer than that before we see him again.
If the 2025 Orioles season were going better, say if they were .500 instead of as far below as they are, maybe there would have been an interesting case to go aggressive and call up catching prospect Samuel Basallo here. The 20-year-old is doing great things at the plate for Norfolk, but he’s still only caught 15 games for the season and this is not the opportunity to make him the every day MLB catcher, or even probably half the time. The incentives are not there for the aggressive promotion. I’d guess we’ll see him right around September 1, regardless of what happens with Rutschman’s oblique.
Rutschman makes for the tenth player on the injured list for the Orioles right now. He’s the 21st different Oriole to go on the IL this season.