Adley Rutschman 2024

[now]

As the franchise player goes, so goes the franchise (sadly, in this case).

[ChosenOne21]

On 8/30/2024 at 11:56 PM, Yossarian said:

A really interesting breakdown of framing pitches comparing Rutschman to the Mets' Alvarez 

 

 

I've never been a catcher, but how hard can it be to scoot up a little behind the plate and not hold the pitch so long after you catch it? This isn't like asking a pitcher to rework his delivery. Are the Orioles just oblivious to this stuff? Is Adley stubborn?

[tntoriole]

Matt Wieters part deux. 

[emmett16]

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

He’s so bad right now. I don’t believe this is who he really is but he’s awful. 

They need to move him down in the order. 

[waroriole]

43 minutes ago, tntoriole said:

Matt Wieters part deux. 

Wieters was a good defensive catcher. 

[emmett16]

1 hour ago, ChosenOne21 said:

I've never been a catcher, but how hard can it be to scoot up a little behind the plate and not hold the pitch so long after you catch it? This isn't like asking a pitcher to rework his delivery. Are the Orioles just oblivious to this stuff? Is Adley stubborn?

I pointed this out earlier in the thread.  He's terrible at framing low pitchers.  His technique is awful. He doesn't get low enough and is very upright.  Leads me to believe his lower back/back is chirping to not allow him to be mobile and flexible.  He looks very stiff.  This is all pretty basic stuff and technique he's done in the past but isn't right now for some reason.  Great video! 

[Aristotelian]

10 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I pointed this out earlier in the thread.  He's terrible at framing low pitchers.  His technique is awful. He doesn't get low enough and is very upright.  Leads me to believe his lower back/back is chirping to not allow him to be mobile and flexible.  He looks very stiff.  This is all pretty basic stuff and technique he's done in the past but isn't right now for some reason.  Great video! 

Is it possible that umpires are looking out for whatever he was doing in '22-'23 when he was a plus framer, and he has failed to adjust? 

Sure, it would be nice if Adley could make adjustments but the catcher doesn't control everything. It is ultimately up to the umpire to call the strikes. Honestly the whole thing just makes me want to bring on the robots.

Honestly though Adley's complete disappearance at the plate in the second half has to be the biggest disappointment of the season. He has to be better than this. I'm sure he is aware of it and the coaches are aware of it. I have no idea what the solution is other than play through it unless it's something physical.

 

[Otter]

2 hours ago, ChosenOne21 said:

I've never been a catcher, but how hard can it be to scoot up a little behind the plate and not hold the pitch so long after you catch it? This isn't like asking a pitcher to rework his delivery. Are the Orioles just oblivious to this stuff? Is Adley stubborn?

I know it's the trend for some catchers to move much closer up towards the hitter to better frame and steal pitches.  However, that also leads to a much increased risk of the catcher being hit in the hand/glove with the swing.  See Wilson Contreras several months ago and see how close he was to the hitter....

 

[now]

3 hours ago, tntoriole said:

Matt Wieters part deux. 

Memo to Orioles draft room: Jesus was not a switch-hitting catcher.

[52520Andrew]

Been playing around on fangraphs, filtering since July 1st, Adley has a BABIP of .188 which is definitely low. Have to think he has been getting unlucky as of late. Looking at his hard hit percentage though, it is also very low (19.9 % which was only ahead of Mateo) which would explain the low BABIP. Probably some bad luck involved but also not hitting a lot of hard contact either. Could be a sign he isn't playing at 100%

Looking at August though the BABIP goes up to .243 while the hard hit % drops to 13.3% although that was when he was dealing with his back stuff.

Separating out July, his BABIP was .118 which is absurdly low and he had a more respectable hard hit % at 27.1% so it really looks like July was just really bad luck. The hard hit % was in line with his June numbers.

So overall looking at Adley's struggles over the past couple months, it looks like a story of 2 different months. July was just really bad luck and a typical slump. August looks like not as bad luck but not making a lot of hard contact and some other background numbers were down. Considering he was dealing with back issues during the time, that checks out. Looking at the past 2 weeks with all the small sample disclaimers, he has a low BABIP of .171 and low hard hit % of 13.9%. Not exactly encouraging numbers in terms of health. Going forward we have to hope Adley can get healthy and luckier but I don't think he necessarily is right now. I would definitely prioritize getting him healthy giving McCann more playing time and potentially moving Adley down in the order to give him more rest, at least for the next few weeks. At least some of his DH at bats can go to Mayo potentially since Mayo needs at bats anyways. We aren't going very far in October if Adley isn't himself but definitely props to Adley for continuing to go out there and grind.

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2024&month=1000&season1=2024&ind=0&rost=&age=&filter=&players=0&startdate=2024-07-01&enddate=2024-11-01&sortcol=12&sortdir=default&team=2&pagenum=1

[Wavetrapper]

6 hours ago, ChosenOne21 said:

I've never been a catcher, but how hard can it be to scoot up a little behind the plate and not hold the pitch so long after you catch it? This isn't like asking a pitcher to rework his delivery. Are the Orioles just oblivious to this stuff? Is Adley stubborn?

I was a catcher for many years.  It’s not hard at all and you can definitely steal some strikes 

the other thing that drives me nuts is how many catchers crouch with no runners on.  Go to one knee and save your knees!!

 

[TopGunnar]

4 hours ago, emmett16 said:

I pointed this out earlier in the thread.  He's terrible at framing low pitchers.  His technique is awful. He doesn't get low enough and is very upright.  Leads me to believe his lower back/back is chirping to not allow him to be mobile and flexible.  He looks very stiff.  This is all pretty basic stuff and technique he's done in the past but isn't right now for some reason.  Great video! 

His back is fine. This is who he is. 

[Fiver6565]

31 minutes ago, TopGunnar said:

His back is fine. This is who he is. 

LOL like you know. So the last two months is who he is, but the 15 ish playing months before that isn’t who he is?  OK got it. 

[glenn__davis]

56 minutes ago, TopGunnar said:

His back is fine. This is who he is. 

This isn't who he is, or at least certainly not who he has been.  Maybe he forgot to play baseball all of a sudden, wouldn't be the first, but he has most certainly been better than what he's shown lately.