Orioles All-Star Slugger Having Strong Spring Is Encouraging Sign for Franchise

Will an All-Star slugger from the Baltimore Orioles bounce back in 2025?

Nick Ziegler | Mar 24, 2025

Mar 20, 2025; Sarasota, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman (35) runs around the bases after a three-run home run during the third inning against the New York Yankees at Ed Smith Stadium. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

In this story:

Baltimore Orioles

With the start of the regular season just days away for the Baltimore Orioles, expectations are high once again for the franchise.

The Orioles have been one of the best teams in the American League the last two years, racking up the most number of wins in the league during that span.

Baltimore has been built largely from within, with the organization doing an excellent job drafting and developing players.

Most of the success has come from getting talented position players, and that has resulted in the team having one of the best lineups in the game. With the core of the team being so young, they could see sustained success for quite some time because of this.

However, even though the lineup has been great the past couple of years, their offense did slump a bit in the second half of the year. Furthermore, it was one of their notable All-Stars who had the worst stretch of his career at the plate.

Jake Rill of MLB.com recently spoke about the biggest takeaway for the Orioles this spring being the return of Adley Rutschman to greatness.

“It feels like Rutschman is set up well to have a huge 2025 season, and the Orioles need him to do so to have their lineup operating at its best.”

The turnaround for the franchise really began when they drafted the talented catcher with the first overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft.

Rutschman has quickly emerged as one of the best at his position in baseball, with two All-Star appearances and a silver slugger in three years of being in the Majors.

However, 2024 was a down year for the 27-year-old. The slugger slashed .250/.318/.391, which were all career-lows.

A big reason for his struggles overall was the dreadful second half of the season that he had. After the All-Star break last year, he slashed .207/.282/.303 with just three home runs. It was a shocking drop-off in production for Rutschman, who performed really well in the first half of the campaign.

The decline in play by the catcher was a major factor in the struggles of Baltimore in the second half of the year.

Even though there was a lot of talent on the offense, the unit was not the same, with their slugger being as ineffective as he was.

Fortunately, the 27-year-old looks like his normal self this spring. He slashed 357/.438/.595 with three home runs and eight RBI.

If Rutschman is back to where the team expects him to be, they should be able to avoid repeating their mediocre play from the second half of last season.

Recommended Articles