Organization Reports American League
BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Now that the Orioles have signed No. 1 overall draft pick Adley Rutschman, they must decide how to ease the Oregon State catcher into his first professional season.
Rutschman reported to the Orioles’ Sarasota, Fla., complex for workouts with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League team. He eventually will join short-season Aberdeen after knocking off rust from an extended period of inactivity. Oregon State bowed out of the NCAA Tournament at regionals in early June.
“I think we’ll let his play determine how fast he moves,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said. “Every player’s different. Every first-round pick is different… I always believe in starting (players) at the lower level because it’s very easy to transfer them if they’re performing well.
“He’s done a lot in his life and his career so far to earn this opportunity, and I’m very confident that he’s going to seize it and take it to great places.”
Rutschman was drafted to catch, but he won’t spend every game behind the plate. The switch-hitter will also get at-bats at first base and DH.
“He’s not going to catch every single day of the week. Nobody does in the minor leagues,” Elias said. “I think one consideration with him is we feel his defense is fairly polished, so we don’t know that he needs to log a ton of development innings at the catching position.
“The at-bats are probably going to be more important for his minor league development. But certainly we want to keep him catching and get him some experience catching in pro ball and with pitchers he hasn’t worked with—pro pitchers, pitchers from Latin America. There is a lot that goes into that.”
Rutschman received a record $8.1 million bonus that eclipsed the $8 million Gerrit Cole received as the top overall pick in 2011. However, Rutschman came in under the slot value of $8,415,300.
The Orioles are more than comfortable with choosing Rutschman.
“We are in a phase right now where we’re looking for building blocks,” Elias said, “and I think that by signing Adley Rutschman we found a very big piece.”
—ROCH KUBATKO
BOSTON RED SOX
Righthander Bryan Mata entered 2018 as one of the best pitching prospects in the system, but a combination of severe control woes and a back injury that effectively wiped out his season following the Futures Game left that status in doubt.
In 2019, Mata had reestablished his prospect path to emerge as perhaps the pitcher with the clearest path to the big league rotation.
Though the 20-year-old Venezuelan missed a month early this season with a mild right shoulder strain, he had been overpowering at high Class A Salem.
His steadily increasing fastball velocity has continued to tick up, with the righthander now topping out at 98 mph and sitting comfortably in the mid-90s with both his four- and two-seam fastballs, which he uses to spread the zone.
“I think one of the troubles he had last year was that he was just throwing harder than he ever had said. “As he was getting older and bigger and stronger, it was hard to control the ball sometimes. But it seems like he’s settled in quite a bit this year.”
