Adley Rutschman injured just enough for Baltimore Orioles to get extra year
By David Hill
The Baltimore Orioles may have received some good news/bad news on Wednesday. The bad news is that top prospect Adley Rutschman has a strained right triceps and will miss two to three weeks. Normally, the good news would be that it is just a minor injury and that Rutschman should be perfectly fine in short order.
This is not the entire case here. That two to three week time frame means that Rutschman would be healthy around Opening Day if the Orioles take the longer end of that time frame. Then it would make sense for Rutschman to spend some time in the minors, just to get back into game shape and to make certain that his arm is fine.
Baltimore Orioles may be gifted extra year of Adley Rutschman
How long will it take for Rutschman to be ready? Considering that he will need to catch a few games and show that his arm is fine, and work at getting his swing back in order, it may be a bit. Something around ten or so days sounds right.
It is purely coincidental that those ten or so days are likely to be enough to give the Orioles an extra year of service time. That may be contingent on Rutschman not finishing in the top two of the AL Rookie of the Year balloting, but they may be willing to take that chance once he is healthy.
There is going to be the school of thought that it is best to get him to the majors as soon as possible. After posting a .285/.397/.502 batting line in his 543 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A, with 23 homers and 25 doubles, he has nothing left to prove in the minors.
But it is a matter of showing that he is healthy. The Orioles are going to want to take their time with their prized prospect, waiting to be absolutely certain that he is healthy before getting him game action. If that happens to take long enough for the Orioles to gain an extra year of control, it is just a coincidence.
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The Baltimore Orioles dodged a bullet with Adley Rutschman’s injury. At the same time, they may have received a gift in the form of another year of control.