© 2020 ABG-SI LLC. 2 last year, would be the fiercest competition -- but Rutschman, by all accounts, is a superior hitter.

“There are a lot of really good players, but this guy's going to be a game-changer.”. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. Fifty different players over that span have been selected from across the country, all with the hopes that they, too, could be a franchise’s backstop of the future. While Rutschman may not have a career as honeycombed with accolades as Mauer's -- remember, Mauer was a six-time All-Star, three-time batting champ and Gold Glove winner, and the 2009 AL MVP -- he should be a worthy pick at No. Bailey has been a close friend of the Rutschman family for years. This season, he’s put up gargantuan numbers despite teams refusing to pitch to him: His 73 walks (in 55 games) lead Division I. It was Adley’s choice, though, to stick with it. But first he has to conquer the arduous journey of becoming a major league catcher—a process that has derailed many promising careers before his.

Covering the impact of coronavirus on the sports world. That’s true of the blue-chippers and longshots alike. He played college baseball for the Oregon State Beavers. The Orioles selected Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the No. 1 is that he ends up more Zunino than Mauer. “I don't think [No.

Getting Adley to commit was a slow process, so Bailey decided to get drastic. Rutschman is the first catcher selected No. He broke the school’s single-season records for hits and RBIs as a sophomore and then set the College World Series record for total hits. 5 pick of the 2007 draft, he was hailed as the next Bench.

In choosing Correa, the Astros bypassed, among others, Zunino, a catcher out of Florida who had won both the Golden Spikes and the Johnny Bench Award as the nation’s top collegiate backstop. Both Randy and his father, Ad, played baseball and Adley took up the sport at the same position his father played: catcher.

The Beavers won their third College World Series in 2018 as Rutschman earned the Most Outstanding Player award. In other words, that's a player who could hit around .280 while providing more than 20 homers a season and good defense. 1 overall. In the championship-clinching game against Arkansas, he went 3-for-4 and drove in two. And one who can stick at the position long-term is a true unicorn. Nate looks at me and goes, I'd walk him right here. “It’s probably one of the hardest positions in sports,” says veteran Dodgers catcher Russell Martin. In the 18 years since the Twins turned high school catcher Joe Mauer into the No. All Rights Reserved. I was like, I don't know if I want to catch those guys. But as I got to do it more, it was one of those things I looked forward to, because then you go back and catch high school guys and it's like, wow, this makes it a lot easier.” It helped that, his junior year, Adley, a self-described late developer, added six inches and 40 pounds to his frame. Even the can’t-miss catchers seem to end up far short of their potential more often than not.

1 pick of the 2019 draft, the name he’ll read aloud is Adley Rutschman, a switch-hitting catcher for Oregon State and the next great hope to join the ranks of Mauer and Posey. “In terms of picking the absolute very best player out of the draft, that's almost never happened,” Elias says. Behind the dish, he has a good arm, strong wrists that enable him to "stick" pitches and frame the strike zone, and more than enough athleticism to project as a catcher over the long haul. MLB Draft 2019: Potential No. Figuring out that risk-reward calculus is hard, and Elias has no solution for it—or at least, none he cares to divulge. As a sophomore in high school, Adley says his dad would have him catch college and professional pitchers in the area. Both the 2019 Pac-12 Player of the Year and a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, Rutschman has spent the last two years torching NCAA competition. All Rights Reserved.

Adley Stan Rutschman (born February 6, 1998) is an American professional baseball catcher in the Baltimore Orioles organization. “When you take a catcher, there's just a lot more that needs to go right for him to do well, and it's demanding and difficult,” Elias says. Predictably, Rutschman will become the best catching prospect in baseball the moment he signs his professional contract. “It was trying to get me to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” he says.

He turned them down to attend Oregon State, where his pitching career was shelved. It’s clear that Rutschman is special, and in more ways than one. Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman found himself in the very definition of a clutch situation in the seventh inning of his team’s Friday-night matchup with the University of Cincinnati.

“Rutschman has the chance to be a generational talent,” says a Northwest area scout. Rutschman dominated the Pac-12 in 2019, slashing .418/.580/.764 with 17 homers in 56 games. 3, one way or another, Rutschman will be drafted high. The No.

Joey Bart, whom the San Francisco Giants drafted No.

“It's one of those things where I'd want it, just because it'd be a tribute to how hard I've worked in the process that I've gone through,” he says. Bailey has Rutschman’s pop time—the amount of time it takes to catch a ball, get out of a crouch and throw to second—clocked between 1.9 and two seconds, which would place him firmly in the top half of all MLB catchers. Randy was a highly regarded catching coach—“I think he’s one of the best in the country,” Bailey says—so it was more likely than not that his son would find himself behind the plate for good. He was named the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year in 2019.

“I said, if Adley doesn't commit to me within the next two weeks, I'm going to burn your house down. “It takes a certain breed,” says Russell Martin, before adding with a smile, “You almost pride yourself in that.”.

If he goes first overall, he’ll make for a neat piece of trivia, but either way, the pressure will be on him right away to succeed where Zunino, Wieters and countless others couldn’t. Add it all together and Rutschman profiles as an All-Star-caliber backstop who scouts believe could grade as above-average to plus in every tool component (hitting for average, hitting for power, throwing, and general glovework) except for speed. As a sophomore in 2018, he hit a preposterous .408/.505/.628 with nine homers and 22 doubles, helping the Beavers win the College World Series as its Most Outstanding Player. 1. 1 overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft on Monday. Next Monday, though, one team will get the best shot in a decade to solve that problem.

“We're up at Washington this year. 1.

Adley Rutschman (87) Place Kicker - OVERVIEW The Beavers’ starting catcher on the baseball team Elected Adley Rutschman - Football - Oregon State University Athletics Skip To Main Content Therein lies the Catch-22 of catchers.

Even if Rutschman weren’t hitting that well, his defense alone would make him major league caliber.