Adley Rutschman 2023

[Pat Kelly]

I suspect with no basis that Adley or the team is hiding/managing something that is not enough to warrant the DL.  He is too important to the team and 70% Adley is still better than most .   Whatever the issue is it doesn't impact his running/speed. 

Right now Adley is a good game manager and handler of pitchers who does not scare runners with his arm, walks a bunch and legs out infield hits, typically when no one is on base. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Pat Kelly

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, BRobinsonfan said:

Why not simply say, "I really disagree with you, and here's why?"  Over the years, I've come to regard you as one of the most knowledgeable people on this board.  But frequently, your vitriolic responses seem over the top and uncalled for and distract from your usually well-thought-out takes. It probably wouldn't come off the same way if we were having these conversations over a beer, but on a message board, your remarks often seem gratuitous and undermine what are usually excellent observations on your part.  

Fair enough. I don’t find “foolish” to be some dirty word and I feel he’s been a little overly sensitive about it but point taken.

[CHIP]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I sure hope he’s not hurt.  It didn’t really occur to me.   I will say his throws don’t seem very strong.  

I never hope for injury, especially for teams I cheer for, but also for all athletes.  With that being said... even Steve asked a question of Hyde today.  So it seems like the whispers and questions are starting...  I may try and look at the steals and see if I can time the throws.  Do any of the stat cast sites share the POP and MPH of throw downs?

 

[Just Regular]

Fangraphs Team Stats do rate CIN 2nd best overall in Speed.

To the All-Star break, MIN and NYY both solidly Bottom Half, so we'll see how much they go.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2023&month=0&season1=2023&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2023-01-01&enddate=2023-12-31&sort=11,d

[Going Underground]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

I sure hope he’s not hurt.  It didn’t really occur to me.   I will say his throws don’t seem very strong.  

This article claims he is seventh in velocity but bad accuracy. 

Baltimore Orioles: Adley Rutschman's Achilles Heel?
https://eutawstreetreport.com/battling-baserunners-adley-rutschmans-achilles-heel/

[Etch]

THOUGHT WE WERE GETTING TED SIMMONS.  INSTEAD TURNS OUT TO BE ANDY ETCHABARREN. TOO SOON?

[glenn__davis]

Buster Posey is my "best case comp" for Adley.  Not saying it's fair to expect that of him, just that that's what I hope he could be.

In Posey's first season (108 games) he put up an .862 OPS with a 133 OPS+.  Adley put up .806/131 in 113 games.

In Posey's second season he was at .756/117 before the catastrophic leg injury after just 45 games.  Adley is currently at .795/124.

Of course over the next 4 years Posey averaged a ridiculous 145 OPS+, which isn't really fair to expect from Adley.

I say all this to say - not trying to make excuses for Adley only having a "good" year as opposed to an "awesome" year, but it's easy to forget, he's barely been in MLB for a year.  Posey's second season was relatively pedestrian as well.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

 

[sportsfan8703]

9 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

 

Adley definitely arrived nationally last night. There won’t be any more losing out to Jonah Heims to start the game anymore. Brilliant move by Adley. Become a national figure by doing the HR derby, and switch hitting. Genius level marketing, and Adley is just a competitive dude. Everyone wins. 

He’ll start x amount of ASG, and people will always remember fluke that beat him out. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Adley definitely arrived nationally last night. There won’t be any more losing out to Jonah Heims to start the game anymore. Brilliant move by Adley. Become a national figure by doing the HR derby, and switch hitting. Genius level marketing, and Adley is just a competitive dude. Everyone wins. 

He’ll start x amount of ASG, and people will always remember fluke that beat him out. 

You can whine about it, but Heim has had a great first half.  Now I’ll agree this is the All STAR game, not the Who-Had-The-Best-First-Half Game and there’s a reason Adley was in the derby last night and not Heim.

Rangers fans simply stuffed the ballot box to get 4 of their guys in the game but it’s not as if Heim doesn’t belong. 

[Aristotelian]

I've been wondering if Adley might be a guy like Ichiro, who was always said to have big time power but was more focused on getting on base. Last night showed he has elite batting practice power, and he showed it in game with that 460 footer vs MN. 

Seeing him go 7-for-8 when he switched to the right side was a great moment (and surprising since his in-game numbers are better from the left side). 

With 11 HR at the break, he is on track to easily surpass his 12 HR from last year, but I wonder what it would take for him to be a 30-35 HR guy. 

[sportsfan8703]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

You can whine about it, but Heim has had a great first half.  Now I’ll agree this is the All STAR game, not the Who-Had-The-Best-First-Half Game and there’s a reason Adley was in the derby last night and not Heim.

Rangers fans simply stuffed the ballot box to get 4 of their guys in the game but it’s not as if Heim doesn’t belong. 

Heim is deserving, but Adley made sure that no amount of ballot stuff will keep him out of starting again. Jonah Who?  Just like on draft day when we took Heim early and he wasn’t even ranked in the MLB top 500. 

[Pat Kelly]

HRD was special.  Expecting an uptick in AR power the rest of the season.  In fact I think he has a big 2nd half reaching 25-28HR for the season. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

I've been wondering if Adley might be a guy like Ichiro, who was always said to have big time power but was more focused on getting on base. Last night showed he has elite batting practice power, and he showed it in game with that 460 footer vs MN. 

Seeing him go 7-for-8 when he switched to the right side was a great moment (and surprising since his in-game numbers are better from the left side). 

With 11 HR at the break, he is on track to easily surpass his 12 HR from last year, but I wonder what it would take for him to be a 30-35 HR guy. 

I don't think Ichiro was a great on base guy.  He was .355 for his career which isn't terrible, but it was propped up by a .311 career average.  

I think Ichiro just wanted to get as many hits as he possibly could and if there was a ball an inch or two off the plate he'd be happy to slap it the opposite field instead of taking it for a ball.

Adley, on the other hand, I do believe he wants to get on base and won't sacrifice anything for that.  I don't know if he's ever going to sell out for power, although he does take some pretty big rips at the plate.  But I also think he's really content with delivering a single to the opposite field.  

[Aristotelian]

18 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I don't think Ichiro was a great on base guy.  He was .355 for his career which isn't terrible, but it was propped up by a .311 career average.  

I think Ichiro just wanted to get as many hits as he possibly could and if there was a ball an inch or two off the plate he'd be happy to slap it the opposite field instead of taking it for a ball.

Adley, on the other hand, I do believe he wants to get on base and won't sacrifice anything for that.  I don't know if he's ever going to sell out for power, although he does take some pretty big rips at the plate.  But I also think he's really content with delivering a single to the opposite field.  

This is splitting hairs but I think Ichiro just thought hits were the best way to get on base, and in his case he was right because he was so good at it. You are right, he wasn't up there trying to draw walks. Overall .355 isn't elite but that includes his 37-45 years which isn't exactly fair. Peak Ichiro was regularly .380-400+ and he sustained that for a long time. .355 would still have him in the top 30 today.