The Baltimore Orioles have produced a No. 1 overall prospect in three straight years, and it shouldn’t be long until all three of them take the field together for the first time.
Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, taken with the Orioles’ first two picks of the 2019 draft, have already changed the culture for this young team, helping them to an AL best 73-45 record, while Jackson Holliday, the 2022 first overall pick, is flying through the minor league system, with an outside chance to earn a September call-up.
Rutschman, who was the first of the three to reach the bigs, has completely changed the standard in Baltimore, which boasts a 131-94 record since calling him up, good for a 94-win pace. Rutschman isn’t flashy and therefore does not get as much of the media recognition other young stars do. He quietly made his first All-Star Game in 2023 and is slashing .265/.361/.422 on the year.
Rutschman is one of those players whose impact goes far beyond what he does at the plate. He has taken over as the leader of the Orioles’ clubhouse, and it’s evident this team rallies around him. The Orioles have never been swept in his tenure, a streak that spans 78 straight series.
He is also one of the better defensive catchers in baseball, and his biggest impact on the game is with the pitching staff. This year has been a down year defensively, but Rutschman showed in 2022 how good he was as one of the best framers in the game, paired with 18 defensive runs saved. The drop off defensively is likely linked to the 2023 rule changes, making nabbing runners much more difficult.
Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday, potentially the future left side of the Orioles’ infield, both have the makeup of generational hitters at the plate. With Henderson being 22 and Holliday 19, they are the prized possessions of the rebuild and should have every O’s fan excited for what’s to come.
Henderson is in the midst of his first full season in the bigs and is already showing off his raw power. It took Gunnar a few months to adjust to big league pitching, but since June 1, Henderson is slashing .261/.312/.513 with 14 home runs. He has spent time in both the lead-off spot and the two hole, creating a deadly one-two punch with Adley.
His gold glove defense has also been on display all year at both third base and shortstop. Henderson still needs to cut down the swing and miss in his game, but a .280 average, 35-home-run season seems well within his reach at some point.
Holliday, who is currently in Double-A Bowie, might even be better. One year removed from high school, he’s already banging on the door of the major leagues. This season, at three different minor league levels, Holliday has put up a ludicrous .338/.456/.531 slashline, good enough to have him listed as the consensus top prospect in the sport.
He’s finally starting to hit for some power, with 10 home runs on the year, and projects to be a five-tool player for the Orioles in the near future. It also helps that in 91 career minor league games, he’s reached base via a hit or walk in 85 of them, which is just as ridiculous as it sounds.
Henderson and Holliday, being so young with superstar potential, will surely command more media attention and will likely be viewed as the two most important pieces to the rebuild. But not to be forgotten in their success is the man who holds it all together.
Rutschman will always be the most important Oriole on the field. His humble leadership resonates through the clubhouse and makes it hard not to make the Buster Posey comparison, who was crucial to the San Francisco Giants’ three World Series titles in the early 2010s. A catcher who can consistently help pitchers reach their ceilings while also being a plus hitter is extremely hard to come by.
While Henderson and Holliday are the glitter for this team for many years to come, Rutschman is the glue. Together, all three make for a perfect piece of baseball art that many will envy.
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