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There’s never a good time for one of your star players to go down with injury. But for the Orioles and Adley Rutschman, the timing of the star catcher’s left oblique strain couldn’t have been much worse.
Since Rutschman’s promotion to the big leagues a few seasons ago, Baltimore has gone as their face of the franchise has gone. When Rutschman plays well, generally, the Orioles play well. That’s exactly what we saw in June.
In the month, Rutschman’s 2025 was turning around. The catcher hit .309 with a .381 on-base percentage, posting an OPS close to .900 with just eight strikeouts and seven walks. It’s no surprise, then, that the O’s were 11-6 in the 17 games that Rutschman was healthy in the month.
Now, the Orioles must navigate life without him until at least the All-Star break, according to interim skipper Tony Mansolino.
Rutschman’s injury, and its ramifications, was the topic of discussion on this week’s edition of “The Bird’s Nest,” which you can watch here: https://masn.me/qp9slhbj.
The injury meant that the O’s had a void to fill at catcher, which they filled with the promotion of Maverick Handley. That promotion, though, was short-lived, as Handley was injured in a crazy collision with Jazz Chisholm Jr. at home plate. Handley landed on the concussion list, and up came Chadwick Tromp.
The nature of the catcher position, especially in this modern era of baseball, is that a backup catcher is unlike any other backup position in the game. The backup catcher is expected to play two to three times a week in order to keep the primary catcher off his feet. Tromp now steps into that role.
Multiple catcher injuries does, too, make one question a natural one: are we nearing Samuel Basallo time?
The offensive numbers leave no room for doubt that Basallo will make a major league impact at some point. Entering last night’s game, the young catcher had an OPS over .950 with 15 home runs.
It’s important to remember, though, that Basallo has only caught 17 games this season. And at 20-years-old, Baltimore’s top priority remains his long-term development over the chance of short-term success. Mike Elias noted that he felt responsible for calling Jackson Holliday up to the big leagues too early last season, a misstep that the O’s will surely be cautious not to take again.
Basallo is incredibly talented, a sentiment echoed by new Tides manager Tim Federowicz in an interview with “The Bird’s Nest’s” co-host Annie Klaff.
For more of what we learned from that conversation, be sure to check out this week’s episode.
An under-the-radar option at the position could be minor-league signing Jacob Stallings. Despite a down 2025, Stallings isn't far removed from last season's .810 OPS with the Colorado Rockies. Stallings, a 10-year big league veteran, would bring plenty of experience and a golden glove behind the plate.
“The Bird’s Nest” is live every Wednesday at 11 a.m. on MASN Orioles’ Facebook and YouTube channels, or you can catch the podcast after the fact on any of your favorite podcast platforms. We’d love it if you spent part of your morning with us. While the topics of the podcast are briefly discussed here, the podcast itself offers more in-depth analysis.
