Adley Rutschmann
One of the top ranked prospects in the 2019 draft class is catcher Adley Rutschmann. He has been drafted previously before by the Seattle Mariners while in high school, but chose to not to sign with the team when he was selected in the 40th round in 2016.
He would take his talents to Oregon State where he has been a main stay in the Beavers starting lineup over the past three season.
As a freshman, he would play in over 61 games and would slash .234/.322/.306 with 2 home runs and 33 RBI. As a freshman with a heavy workload, this is not terrible numbers given his playing time against more experience pitchers in the college circuit.
Over the past two years, he would start to gain his footing at the college level and as a sophomore would see his batting average climb to .408 while playing in 6 more games than the previous season. He would also smack 9 home runs to go along with 83 RBI, while also walking 53 times compared to his 40 strikeouts. Talk about a fantastic second season at the college level.
To start 2019, Rutschmann is currently slashing .422/.577/.797, which is absurd given the team has played in 40 games already this season. He also has more home runs this season compared to the entire 2018 campaign with 14 dingers and continues to draw more walks than strikeouts.
It is pretty obvious to see why Rutschmann’s is at the top of the draft class for 2019. While I have previously mentioned only his batting statistics, he is also an elite defender at a tough position at catcher, committing only 17 errors throughout his 168 games he has played in.
Who will draft him?
I truly believe the Baltimore Orioles will take Rutschmann first overall. His experience at a high level of competition in college ball will streamline him towards the major leagues quicker than any high school counterpart. The Orioles also lack depth at the catcher position, as there is only 1 catching prospect within their top 30 organization prospects (Brett Cumberland), and both starting catchers on the major league roster could be improved upon (Jesus Sucre and Pedro Severino).
I feel like his one is a bit of a no brainer to me, but the Orioles could go another way in the draft. If the Orioles do draft someone else, I could see the Royals selecting Rutschmann as a replacement for Salvador Perez for when he makes the transition away from the backstop position in his later playing days.