This year’s Junior Circuit rookie class was notable, with Rodríguez and Rutschman taking titles. The pair of top prospects both hit the ground running against MLB pitching. Seattle brought Rodríguez on the roster as an opening day center fielder, looking to build on a stellar 90-win campaign in 2021. The young outfielder got off to a rough start, thanks in part to a series of questionable strike calls early going, but eventually emerged as the best position player on a good Seattle club. Over 560 plate appearances, Rodríguez posted a .284/.345/.509 line. He connected on 28 home runs and swiped 25 bases in 32 attempts, one of just four players (Kyle Tucker, Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien were the others) to reach 25 long balls and steals each. Rodríguez was especially electric in the second half, producing a .303/.361/.576 line coming out of the All-Star Break to help Seattle cruise to its first postseason appearance in more than two decades. Rodríguez also impressed on the other side of the ball, starting 130 games and pitching 1126 2/3 innings in center. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast rated him as average defense, no small feat for a player some prospect evaluators suggested might be better suited in right field. The 21-year-old appears to have put to bed any questions about his defensive focus for now. Rutschman doesn’t have the hardware, though that’s more a matter of timing than any possible indictment of his performance. The first overall pick in the 2019 draft, the switch-hitting backstop hit in Spring Training and eventually started the year in the minors. He played 20 minor league games before getting his first big league call-up in late May, a time when Rodríguez had already established himself among the AL favorites. Once he reached the big league level, Rutschman emerged as Baltimore’s premier player. He hit .254/.362/.445 with 13 home runs in 470 plate appearances. Among 29 catchers with at least 300 plate appearances, Rutschman trailed only Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk in on-base percentage and finished eighth in slugging. The former Oregon State star also threw out 11 of 36 base-stealing attempts, graded out as 18 runs above average with the glove based on Defensive Runs Saved, and immediately stepped in to lead a generally young staff. Rutschman is arguably already one of the top three catchers in the sport, and his arrival helped start an incredible mid-season turnaround for the O’s. 16-24 at the time of his promotion, Baltimore went 67-55 after his call-up and shocked much of the baseball world by flirting with the Wild Card race in September. They didn’t make the postseason, but they were much better than most expected and are positioned for a more active offseason than they’ve had since starting their rebuild. Rutschman is not only responsible for the Orioles’ turnaround, but he is undoubtedly the biggest part of an increasingly promising team. More to come.
