Wieters’ advice to Rutschman

[Frobby]

Really good piece by Dan Connolly in The Athletic where Wieters is asked about Adley Rutschman and reflects back on his own career.   Here’s a couple of snippets: 

“I didn’t feel pressure personally. It was never, ‘I’ve gotta hit 30 homers, I’ve gotta drive in 100 runs, I’ve gotta win Gold Gloves, I’ve gotta be an All-Star.’ That was never the pressure I felt,” Wieters said. “I actually felt pressure that I can’t screw up the Orioles winning again. That was the pressure that I felt.”

* * *

He said he wished he had better career offensive numbers, but he was most concerned about being in the lineup. In his first four full seasons, he averaged 140 games a year, impressive for a catcher. He was injured in 2014 and 2015 but returned in 2016 to start another 124 games. When he was playing, it was tough to remove him. In 2012, the Orioles played an incredible 18 extra-inning, regular-season games, winning 16 of them, all in a row. Wieters started and finished most, including one that went 17 innings and another that lasted 18.

“That’s advice I would give Adley: Be that guy. Be that guy that everybody can look at and be like, ‘He’s ready. He’s ready to go. And now I’m going to be ready to go,'” Wieters said. “I think I would have had better numbers, I think I would have played longer, if I would have done things differently. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I enjoyed that part of it. I happily am OK and at peace with the career ending maybe a little earlier than it could have because catching is what I wanted to do. … I wanted to be the guy that would show up every day, as long as I could, until I couldn’t.”

* * *

“Don’t get your truths from the media or fans. Just be able to look at the guy next to you in the clubhouse and be able to look him in the eye and be like, ‘I gave you everything that I had today.’ That’s really the only other advice I’d give him,” Wieters said. “The guys that you’re gonna call and hang out with when you’re done playing are the guys you can look in the eye and say, ‘Remember 2012? Remember 2014? Remember that 18-inning game?’ Those are the guys you can call and say, ‘I gave everything I had.’ And they can say the same thing back to you.

“That’s a better feeling than saying, ‘I played an extra four years.'”

 

https://theathletic.com/3327858/2022/05/23/matt-wieters-advice-adley-rutschman-orioles/

[Pickles]

You can see why Wieters would be considered a leader.  

[OriolesMagic83]

This sort of let's me know why teammates love Odor.  The guy's talent is diminished, but there's never a question he's giving 110% and all in on trying to win.  He's sort of the anti-Davis, the guy who did want to play the "extra 4 years" and collect 4 extra years of paychecks.

I know all of us want to cheer for a winning team, but if we can't have that, we want a team going all out to win, and the 2022 O's are putting everything they have into every game.

 

[maybenxtyr]

Matt Wieters is sometimes underappreciated by the fan base here...he had some unreasonable expectations from day 1. He was absolutely pivotal to the team turning around. We'll be fortunate if Adley is similar defensively and maybe a smidge better offensively.

 

Anyhow, good sounding advice from MW.

[tinman]

Not much else you can ask from a player on your team than giving it their best shot. 

[RZNJ]

He said he would/might have played longer if he had done things differently and might have had better numbers BUT he wouldn't change a thing.

I assume he's implying that he was overused.

[Can_of_corn]

18 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

He said he would/might have played longer if he had done things differently and might have had better numbers BUT he wouldn't change a thing.

I assume he's implying that he was overused.

Like maybe not pull double duty as the closer on his college team?

[RZNJ]

32 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Like maybe not pull double duty as the closer on his college team?

No.  

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, RZNJ said:

He said he would/might have played longer if he had done things differently and might have had better numbers BUT he wouldn't change a thing.

I assume he's implying that he was overused.

I’d say he’s saying that he wanted  to carry a heavy workload to help his team even though it shortened his career.   

[tinman]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Like maybe not pull double duty as the closer on his college team?

 

When you're 6'5" 230 pounds and spend years crouching down for hours at a time that wears your body down. Hell, that's hard to do at 5'10" 160. Let alone a massive man such as Wieters.

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, tinman said:

 

When you're 6'5" 230 pounds and spend years crouching down for hours at a time that wears your body down. Hell, that's hard to do at 5'10" 160. Let alone a massive man such as Wieters.

I don't think that caused his UCL to fray.

[tinman]

30 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think that caused his UCL to fray.

 

I have no idea if it did or not. But I do understand physics. 230-240 pounds on the knees is more 160 pounds on the knees.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, tinman said:

 

I have no idea if it did or not. But I do understand physics. 230-240 pounds on the knees is more 160 pounds on the knees.

Right?

But I think his elbow surgery did as much to shorten his career as anything else.

[RZNJ]

17 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Right?

But I think his elbow surgery did as much to shorten his career as anything else.

You think it affected his hitting?

If the surgery affected his throwing the stats don't back it up. Matt Wieters offensive numbers began to diminish.  After years of making 10M, he only made 2M his last year. He could have hung on for a few more years probably but he most likely didn't think it made sense for him.  His diminished offense likely had nothing to do with being a closer in college.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

You think it affected his hitting?

Yes, I do.

I don't have data on hand to back it up but I think a number of position players have come back from TJ surgery and been lesser players on offense.