What does Adley Rutschman’s future hold with the Orioles? | Banner Baseball Show

What does Adley Rutschman’s future hold with the Orioles? | Banner Baseball Show

from inside the Banner offices along the Inner Harbor. It is the Banner Baseball Show. Paul Mano and Andy Kusca live on a Wednesday in October. Andy, been a while since we’ve had you on the pod. I think the last time we had you on the podcast was the trade deadline and that was when we had you and Kyle Goon and Danielle Allen Tuck and John Mioli and everybody in the world was getting traded. Lot has changed since then. A lot has changed yet uh we’re in the same position. Uh, you know, you look at it, the season uh season was pretty much over at that point and now the season is literally over. Literally over. Um, but uh now it was the beginning of the end. It’s the beginning of the end. No, this is it’s very good to be back. Um, you’re always a delightful face to look at. I don’t know about that, but I appreciate it. I don’t know if our our listeners or viewers agree with with any of that, but if you do, write us a fivestar review on Apple Podcast and I’ll read it out here on the show. Give us a like, give us a thumbs up, tell your friends about the Banner Baseball Show. Today, Andy and I are going to be discussing the Orioles ongoing managerial search. We’re also going to be talking about Adley Rutman. Andy just wrote a good story about him as well as Kobe Mayo, subject of another Andy Kuska story. But of course, we do have to talk about the fact that the Orioles have a vacancy at manager. Last week’s episode, John and I ran through 11 candidates who could be considered. In the meantime, Andy has written about two more who could be considered. Some guys are now off the board as well. the 11 guys that John and I talked about. First off, go back and listen if you want more detailed breakdowns of all these guys, but they are Bruce Bochi, Bob Melvin, Brian Snicker, Bud Black. A lot of B’s in there. Four B’s. Uh Scott Service, David Ross, Craig Albernaz, George Lombard, Kai Kareah, Ryan Flity, and Roco Baldelli. Kai Koreah off the board. He has been hired as the bench coach uh for the New York Mets. So, he is gone. The other 10 are technically still out there. And of course, we do still have Tony Manolino, the Orioles interim manager, who Michaelas has identified as a real candidate. We’re just two weeks after the end of the Orioles season. So, well, the only guy who’s been hired as a manager so far for a managerial opening is Skip Schumacher. And there are openings that are still occurring. In the last what, 48, 72 hours, the Padres’s manager, Mike Schult, announced his sudden retirement. So, it’s not like the Orioles are late to any of this, you know? It’s not like they’re they’re late to getting a jump on this, but at this point, I think we can certainly start to expect the wheels to to turn a little bit faster, Andy. Yes. And and we do know that the interview process has begun. Uh last night, yeah, uh Andy Martino for SNY. Uh a much better Andy for keeping tabs. Uh disagree. Thank you. Uh he reported that Luis Rojas uh the Yankees third base coach and former Mets manager has interviewed for the Orioles managerial position. Uh which is an interesting uh name to consider. One that I hadn’t thrown on my hot board of potential names. Um it’s an interesting one. His brother has worked for the Orioles for eons as a minor league coach. Yeah. So family ties Jun. Yes. Uh so that that’s cool. Um he didn’t uh succeed in his two years as Mets manager, but it is potential that he learned a lot uh from working with the Yankees and Aaron Boone, which um some Orioles fans might see that as a negative, but uh it is it is definitely experience uh in a high pressure environment. Um so interesting name to keep track of. Yeah, somebody who in his only two years with the Mets went 26 and 34 in the co shortened season in 2020. Then for the first three quarters of 2021 looked like things were great. The Mets had the lead in the division for like a 100 plus days and then things fall apart as they tend to do with that franchise. 77 and 85 maybe one of those instances where you know the franchise just has this kind of stain upon everybody that takes that job. But he was only really hired in that spot because Carlos Beltran was hired after the 2019 season by the Mets to be their manager. And then shortly after that, this little cheating scandal in Houston. News of that broke. Carlos Beltran gets caught up in that. He gets fired and Luis Rojas is kind of the next man up and just has to take that job. Interesting that the Orioles are going for somebody or at least interviewing somebody off the bat who has that managerial experience. And that’s a bucket that John and I talked about. That’s something I think a lot of fans are looking for is somebody who has done this before. And having success in the past doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have su success in the future. By the same token, being having failures in the past doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to then bring those failures. And like you said, Andy, there’s a possibility that Luis Roas, it’s it wasn’t his fault in New York. It was only two seasons. Maybe he learned a lot. And maybe he’s learned a lot under Aaron Boone. Absolutely. Uh, by that same token, I I’d like to think so, rewind, Michaelas, the president of baseball operations, new title, new title, that is not very new. Um, new to us. Um, he spoke of that experience could be a plus. Uh, not the only thing they’re thinking of. With that in mind, um, I would wonder at the same time if a younger manager might relate to a younger clubhouse. The only reason I bring that up, and this is obviously a different situation, different organization, one with a stain on it, Tony Tony Laruso with the uh Chicago White Socks, um experienced manager comes in uh pretty much um failure by all accounts. Yeah. Um maybe not completely on him. Multiple f factors, I’m sure. Yeah. However, again, bad organization. Bad organization. Uh, one of the things that, you know, that I read in the aftermath of that, uh, ESPN reporting, athletic reporting, um, that he had difficulty relating to a young player group as a 70-year-old man, uh, which is probably understandable. So, with that in mind, um, part of me wonders if there could be a benefit of a young, energetic manager who really kind of understands the nuance that a young clubhouse is going through, trying to take that next step as a player. I say all this because there are some names that are of interest. Yes. Um, I wrote last week about Ricky Weekes, um, associate manager in Milwaukee, um, former all-star second baseman. He has not been a manager before, uh, but he has experience with Pat Murphy, who is one of the, uh, most well- reggarded managers at this exact point in time, uh, despite a two nil deficit in the NLCS. Um, anyway, Ricky Weekes, interesting guy. um infield guru. Um really understand situational hitting. Uh not that Milwaukee has looked like that the past two days, but they’re facing the Dodgers. They’re facing the Dodgers. Um they did it all year. They did it all year. Uh another name that many fans have have discussed um and John Haymon uh reported with the New York Post that should be um a candidate in Baltimore is Ryan Flity. A scrappy former infielder. uh has chops in coaching staffs between bench coach jobs for the Padres’s and now the Cubs. Working under Craig Council is always a good thing. Um one of the most well- reggarded managers in baseball, Craig Council. Um also one of the richest with with the contract he got from Chicago. Um he is an interesting candidate for Baltimore despite not having managerial experience before except for like three games that he was a interim in San Diego when there was a COVID issue. But beyond that, um, I do wonder, so because he, you know, before Chicago was with San Diego, uh, bench coach in San Diego, he was a option, an option for San Diego before they actually hired Mike Schil, uh, who just retired, um, when they moved on from Bob from Bob Melvin. Thank you. Um, so he knows AJ Pller, the GM there. Um, he knows a lot of the players. He knows Manny Machado very well. He played with Manny Mashado. So there could be tea leaves completely just reading tea leaves. He might be a phenomenal fit for San Diego as they are trying to make the most of the latter stages of Manny Machado’s career. Um understands the organization already and has a relationship with a lot of the players. At the same time, uh, you like to think, at least I like to think, uh, that he’d probably be a good fit for Baltimore as well because of, um, the success he’s had as a bench coach, uh, learning from some really good managers, uh, like Melvin, like, uh, Craig Council. So, with that in mind, um, probably will get a call at some point. I’m sure we will find out in the coming days if he interviews. Um, but he doesn’t technically fit that major the major league manager experience aspect of that. So that, you know, maybe that’s that’s a tick against him, but still an interesting option. Uh, many interesting options out there, and I’m sure we’re going to find out plenty more as the days go by. Yeah. Uh, and we’re not agists on this podcast. You know, it’s it’s not necessarily anybody needs to be old or young to do this job. It’s just who the best candidate might be. But as you mentioned, Andy, this is a young clubhouse and maybe there are some advantages of having somebody who has also played the game at the major league level. Ryan Flity, you know, not an all-star level player, but has been in that clubhouse, has been in the Orioles specific clubhouse, but has also been in the Padres’s clubhouse as well as a coach. Truly, he the kind of funny thing is, you know, people keep saying like, “Oh, he played for the O’s. He must have so many connections.” He probably doesn’t if we’re being honest, it’s been a while. He, you know, was a Buck he was a Buck Shoalter guy, which is, you know, he probably learned a lot as a player under Buck. Um, but think of it like I guess Adam Jones in in now in the front office. Sure. Uh would be a connection. I’m sure he knows Buck Britain because he played with Zack Britain, Buck’s brother. Um, beyond that, I mean, he’s not overlapping with many of the guys. So he probably has more connection to San Diego at this point, which is, you know, interesting just because, you know, he wasn’t a player out there. I don’t believe so. Maybe at the very end of his career. I I don’t believe so. I don’t think so. Yeah. Uh somebody can factor. Yeah. Uh but interesting option. Uh many interesting options. I mean, we can’t discount the fact that at this exact moment, Tony Manzolino is a candidate and and quote a real candidate. Real candidate as opposed to an unreal candidate. Um, which I I don’t know why like an imaginary number. I love I loved that. Uh, I don’t know why that quote just made me laugh, Elias. Um, but you know, you So, talk Tony Manelino for a second. Uh, has a relationship with players. Uh, team did perform better under him, which is a low bar considering that they performed really poorly to begin the year. Uh, finished 60 and 59, I believe, was the final record. Uh if you look at May 26 or maybe you know beginning of June to the end it was you know a couple more games over 500. So was a decent record that he had. Um not a world beater by any means. Um I know it might not be the most appealing for some fans to have the coaching staff retain some if not all of the you know of of the members of a disappointing season. But um it’s a possibility that that is still out there. Yeah. Uh you also mentioned Jeff Banister in an article as well. 61-year-old Arizona bench coach since 2022. He was a major league player for exactly one at bat and got a hit. I love that story. Batting a thousand as a major league player. Man managed the Texas Rangers from 2015 to 18. Won the AL West backto-back seasons and then things went downhill a little bit. Manager of the year one of those years too. Wow. So really had a terrific start with the Rangers super start then 78 wins then 64 wins and then fire game with 10 games left in the 2018 season. Described as uh intense he’s got a kind of an old school style but also has an understanding of the analytics of today’s game. I do I am intrigued as well by Ricky Weeks. 43 years old 14-year big league player. Um, and that Milwaukee approach, I think a lot of Orioles fans look at the Orioles lineup, look at their failures in 2025, and even going back to 2024 and 2023. A team that maybe is overrelyant on the homer, a team that strikes out a lot, and a team that doesn’t walk as much as they should. Milwaukee is the exact opposite of that. I mean, the Brewers got to this point. I know they’re down 02 in the NLCS, but don’t hit a lot of homers, don’t have high OPS, but they get competitive at bats. They walk and they don’t strike out. And if there’s anything of that approach that Ricky Weeks could absorb and then sponge out onto the Orioles team, that might be an advantage for him. Well, absolutely. Plus, you have to acknowledge, I mean, not that a associate manager is doing too much um regarding player acquisition and contract things. You know, he’s not necessarily involved in that as far as I’m aware, but um Milwaukee is a small market team. Um they have a bottom half payroll. um he understands what it takes to win with, you know, they call themselves the, you know, average Joe’s, which I don’t know if I really buy because they have the best record in baseball. So, you know, it’s, you know, you can you can spin that as much as you want. Uh they did have the best record. Um and Christian Yelich and Christian Yelich, a former MVP for Yeah. very very good players on that team. Um including Jackson Turio, uh who had a home run in his as a 21-year-old is is showing that he’s not afraid of the spotlight. Uh this is a young age. for him um despite a hamstring strain. Um but yeah, you do I you like a lot about what B excuse me what Milwaukee has been able to do offensively and think defensively here. I mean Bryce Terang is probably the best defensive second baseman in baseball. And if Ricky Weeks can sponge a little bit of that magic, whatever he taught that guy, and maybe he taught him nothing, but whatever he taught Bryce Tang and say, “Hey, Jackson Holiday, we’re gonna we’re gonna make you at least major league average at second base,” which right now he’s done okay, especially moving to his left, moving forward on a ball. But on balls to his right, lateral movement to his right, Jackson did not grade well. Um, so that is an area of improvement for the young man. Um, which is, you know, not shocking. He’s he’s young. It’s, you know, merging to a new position. Um, so understandable that there’s there’s growing pains in that regard. Um, but interesting guy nonetheless. Ricky Weeks. Yeah. Uh, and I think this is an instance where if the Orioles wanted to go out and get a veteran big league manager and then allow him to fill his staff with somebody like a rookie weeks, you know, poach him or John and I have talked about how so many guys jump organizations and they get some kind of raise and title in order to allow them to jump, you know, they could go from bench coach to associate manager or something like that. You can still fill out your staff with a lot of different kinds of voices. Um, as we approach the middle of October here, uh, do you have any kind of sense as to how long I think Orioles fans are looking at how long this this thing might take or I don’t expect this to to drag past winter meetings like the Brandon Hyde hiring did, but seems like we’re kind of wandering in the dark here, Andy. Oh, I’m wandering in the dark, too. I mean, this tends to be that tends to be a a commonality with with all of us. Um, no, I I have I don’t I don’t know. Um, you would imagine if we’re looking, you know, face value, the words ASAP were out of the m the mouth and I don’t think he was talking about Rocky. So, I I think it was he meant uh as soon as possible he would like and he being Michael Asisk. Yeah. Um would like to hire a manager. Uh looking back at last year, I remember looking at when the manager hires were made last year. Most of them were at the very end of October and early November, like first week of November. Um we’ve had one out of the way, Skip Schumacher internal option. So was a fairly quick process, I imagine, um to get him on board. Um there’s a lot of competition this year. So because there is a lot of competition, it could actually drag a little longer because some of the top managerial candidates will probably be deliberating between multiple jobs. Yeah. Or at least multiple interviews. So it might drag a little bit longer than the end of October. Uh but I imagine by the GM meetings, which are usually mid November, um Baltimore probably will have a manager in place. Yeah. Uh, one of the big first jobs I think you could say for the manager, one of the first questions this manager will get will be about Adley Rutman, the Orioles franchise catcher. Let’s talk about Adley because Andy wrote a story on the banner.com where you can subscribe, $1 for six months about this critical offseason for Adley Rutman. We all know he has struggled in the last two years. Had 5.4 baseball reference war as a rookie. It makes an all-star game in his second season with a 4.3 war in 2023. A all-star again in 2024 with a 3.4 war. Production tails off in the second half. And then this year 1.9 war in 2025 in just 90 games. Hit 220, nine homers, 673 OPS, fewest games played, lowest batting average, lowest OPS of his career. When Tony Manscelino was asked about Adley Rutman in his end of season press conference, he pointed specifically to the game calling and defensive aspects that Adley brings. He said, “I think catchers should be good catchers, and I think people have forgotten that about Adley, and it’s frustrating to me. This guy’s become one of the better defensive catchers in the game. So, while everybody’s pointing at his offense, please let’s not forget that this is the type of catcher that you need to have behind the plate to win a World Series.” End quote. What do you see as the biggest issues that Adley Rutman has struggled with over the last two years? Well, I’ll start with the Tony Manzelino quote. Sure. Um, one aspect is that yes, you need a very good game caller and defensive catcher uh to win a World Series. Um, but you don’t necessarily draft like when the Orioles drafted uh Adley Rushman 1-1 in 2019, they didn’t draft a defensive first catcher. Yep. You know, you can you can probably pick up one of those guys on the free agent market for fairly cheap. uh they drafted him because he was a exceptional hitter and so they need to get back to the all-around game, the the the the true dynamic player that he was as a rookie and and for parts of 2023 and and parts of 2024, you know, early 2024. Um, we look at it. Adley is interesting because he had a negging back injury in 2044, a negging hand injury that coincides with uh the drop off in the second half production-wise. Um, one might wonder, you know, why he was playing considering he had those those negging injuries. It’s probably a fair question. Uh, one that we won’t get an answer to. Um question that you could also ask about several players on the several players. Jordan Westber was playing through something for the first couple weeks of the season in Toronto. As you reported, Colton Cowser was playing through broken ribs this season. So several players, it’s admirable to play through it, but at the same time there is a there is some kind of uh you know negative of playing through paint. Absolutely. And diminishing returns. Yeah. and you you wonder um if it does more harm than good. And what I mean by that is when you are in pain naturally, your swing changes as your body tries to not be in as much pain. Um so I I think what we’re looking at with with Adley, it’s it’s fascinating just thinking about this year. Uh chase rate still good. Um was not striking out all that much on pitches outside the zone, but he his hard hit rate really took a took a step backwards. And that’s where we really need to see progress next year. And probably that comes down to some swing adjustments, some sort of tweak. Um maybe um you know, I remember talking to him in Milwaukee before his injury, and it was it was interesting. He heated up both times right before oblique injuries. And it’s it’s unfortunate that he had those injuries this year because it felt like, oh, he’s on the cusp of breaking out and looking more like the Adley that he’s supposed to be. Um, you know, instead he has these mini hot streaks and then oblique pops up and he’s injured. Um, but I remember in in I think it was Milwaukee where you know in May, maybe maybe early June, um, Ally was saying that he’s he was trying to give his hands a little bit more room uh to work. And basically what that means is clean up his bath path bat path a little bit. Um, make sure that he’s, you know, his basically his his attack angle is in a a nice 5 to 20 degree upswing instead of, you know, having it higher. You’re going to have a lot of pop-ups. You’re going to have a lot of dribblers. One of the two. So, you want to be kind of between that five and 20 degree attack angle on the way up. Yeah. In that parabola. Um, nice use of parabola. Thank you. So, I think that is the the main that’s that’s maybe the the main thing that we’re that we need to look at with with Adley is getting his offense back on track. And I think it’s uh, you know, number one priority for a lot of players uh, on this team, not just Adley. Think about Colton Cowser again playing through injury. Uh Jordan Westber was pretty much the same as he was. Um but it wasn’t um absolutely um you know as good as it as as it was the year before. Um who else? Gunner. Um dang good year still, but by Gunner’s uh expectation for himself, it was not a very good season. Yeah. Um defensively was was really good. Um, in fact, there was an argument probably to be made about a gold glove finalist. He no oil or were gold glove finalists this year, uh, which probably makes sense as the the team overall was not strong defensively. U, Gunner was an exception to that. So, back to Adley. Um, defensively, yes, it’s great that his blocking has been better. His framing has been better than it was in 2024. His framing at the very beginning of his career was terrific. uh took a little step back. Now it’s now seems to be back on track. Game calling. Pitchers love him back there. Sugano loved him back there. Um really helped coach him through his first season in the majors. Some of his best starts with Adley behind the plate. Um but going back to my very first point, you don’t draft a catcher 1-1 to be a game color and yes, defensive maestro. Yeah. You draft them to be the all-around superstar that he’s expected to be. And he could still be. He’s only 27. Uh he will be turning 28 uh February 6. He turns 28. So happy early birthday. Um several months. Several several months. I’m just, you know, getting ahead of it. Yeah. Um so it’s uh it it’s time. I mean, it’s an important time for him. Absolutely. It’s it’s a really important time because he’s in arbitration now. He’s, you know, yeah, he’s not motivated by money. However, um if he’s going to be a guy that Baltimore feels like they want to resign for a long-term deal, he needs to show a little bit more. Yeah. And I doubt he’s a trade candidate this offseason, but there’s a potential that if it doesn’t go well, um Baltimore might decide to move on. Yeah. And they have a catcher, a young phenom catcher, and Samuel Bay, who they just signed to an 8-year extension. Samuel Basio is not nearly the defensive catcher or game caller right now that Adley Rutman is. And that’s why the Orioles feel good about having two catchers. One that they think is near the top of the league in those categories and one who is not quite yet, but could be eventually. For Adley though, he is a bit of the victim of expectations like you talk about Andy, because when he was drafted 1-1, he was drafted to be an all-around force. Not just a good defensive catcher, but an outstanding offensive player. and he was that for the first few years of his career. And I think I if you could just get a great defensive catcher, that’s that’s awesome. That guy’s deserving of a big contract. But he is not the kind of guy that you take with the first overall pick, especially when fans look at who was taken with the second overall pick by the Royals. Bobby Whit Jr. who is a phenomenal player and is three years younger than Adley and plays good defense at shortstop and is has really had very few speed bumps in his career and put up incredible offensive numbers. So, I understand what Tony Manelino is saying that maybe we have forgotten and underappreciated just how good of a game caller and defensive catcher Adley Rutman is. But at the same time, that’s not what he was drafted to be. And so he hasn’t been the guy that he has drafted to be. A franchise catcher is somebody who he was sold as fairly or not. He was sold as Buster Posey and he has not been Buster Posey for the last couple years. Correct. And expectations are always going to be somewhat of a challenge to live up to. Yeah. Um but at the same time um what we’ve seen this year and part most of 2024 is is not even near what was kind of built as as what he’s going to be maybe unfairly as the savior of the organization so to speak. Um but that was the nature of going with um a back stop at 1-1. you know, you’re you’re picking a guy that, you know, obviously up the middle defense, you know, center shorts stop um catcher or really really important for a team. So, you know, you’re drafting somebody that’s going to be an important uh cog in the team defensively and what he does with the pitching staff should not be discounted. Um, but what he does with a bat in hand is vital and it needs to improve. It it just needs to improve. a a good healthy Adley Roman just unlocks something in this lineup that they they can’t replace. And we’ve seen it when he’s been out and when he’s been struggling when he is batting near the top of the lineup and he’s productive as a switch hitter. You think about the idea of potentially going with, you know, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westber and to have a switch hitter batting in the two or three hole there is just a tantalizing thought and we’ve seen it at times but the production has not been there. It just has to start with getting healthy. And the oblique strains that you mentioned on both sides of his body this year are going to be a, you know, uh, something that he has to overcome next year. And at this point, he’s got, he’s going to start to have to produce. It’s just a critical offseason for him. But, as you said, Andy, I don’t expect the Orioles to make any kind of moves in that area yet. It’s not like the Orioles are going to non-tender Adley Rutman. He’s projected to get, according to MLB trade rumors, $6.8 8 million in arbitration. But two years away from free agency, the first question when everybody thought when everybody saw the news that they extend to Samuel Basio was, well then what happens to Adley Rutman? Yeah. Can you have two franchise catchers? Although I will I will argue that I personally see Basio sticking more as a first baseman DH in the future with a couple catching days, right? Um I don’t see him as an everyday catcher. So with that in mind, uh being a bat first player, Bisayio, um probably help his knees out a little bit and make sure he’s not behind the plate cuz as impressive as Cal Rally has been, incredibly impressive. Uh most likely the MVP if not the runner up. Um so not many guys can do that. Yeah. You know, play catcher for a lot of the days out of the year, command a pitching staff the way Rally did. um and then also hit 61 nukes. So, pretty impressive from him. But, um I guess what what I’m trying to say is that I still see there being a place for for Adley. Yeah. Um especially when it comes to playing the catching position because I do see Bisayio not as a, you know, all the time behind the plate. I’d like I’d like to see him at first. Yeah. More frequently. Um all right, let’s talk about Kobe Mayo. somebody who struggled uh for a good part of the season and then the last 24 games really turned it on. Hit 301 with a 941 OPS in the final 24 games when he was finally given a full everyday opportunity to grab the hold of that first base spot. There were a lot of instances where Ryan Maule, even when he came back from injury, that was Kobe Mayo’s spot. You always want to see what they have in Kobe Mayo. He’s going to be in his age 24 season next year. They have to figure out probably as soon as this off seasonason if he’s going to be part of their plans because as a former top prospect he could be enticing to other teams as a trade piece. They have Ryan Mau Castle entering the final year of his deal as a right-handed hitting first baseman, left-handed hitting first base. You mentioned Samuel Basio fits that mold perfectly. Maybe there will be somebody else who fits there as well, but as a righty Kobe Mayo should be that guy. The question is, is were those 24 games a fluke or were they this a sign of great things to come? Well, that’s that’s the thing. We might not know until 2020. What year? Yeah. So, truly nobody knows. Yeah. Like until next year, we won’t know that. Um at this exact juncture, what we do know about Kobe is that he worked a lot at first base. Yeah. Um made strides in that area. um will probably is not a gold glove caliber player um at first base. Definitely not maybe someday. I mean what Ryan Mount Castle I don’t think anyone saw Ryan Mount Castle becoming a gold glove caliber first baseman. True uh when he transitioned to first. He has. So he’s only going to be 24. We don’t want to limit the potential for what Kobe Mayo could do. But at this exact point in time, we’re fairly confident saying he’s a league average at best. Great. What? 941 September. Um was receiving everyday playing time and that’s probably helped definitely. Um he he did a lot better against right-handed pitching which was kind of the question is is can he be left-handed pitching? uh actually against righties right right on right matchups in September uh his numbers against righties were a lot better than they were overall for the season. So that was kind of a big question going into that full month is can he be an everyday player because yes you do need him to hit lefties and for the very beginning of care career he wasn’t really hitting anybody. He started hitting lefties well he finished well over his overall numbers against lefties this year were good um again in right-on-ight matchups in September. he had, you know, four of his five home runs in in right-on-ight matchups. So, that was a confidence of, oh, maybe he can, you know, maybe you’re not starting him against like a Corbin Burns type, you know, a top end right-handed starter. Um, that could be a game that Pose as a lefty gets at first, but you feel pretty confident his at bats against righties are not going to be guaranteed outs. You know, he’s he’s can hold his own. He does need to mash against lefties. And so as as to what you were saying, he did show that he could do that um in September. His numbers against lefties were good. Uh can it translate? Because at if we’re thinking about best possible outcome, best possible outcome is he is a league average defensive first baseman and is an everyday hitter at DH or first who can basically be in the lineup in any matchup and probably be a 750 OPS guy. Yeah, best outcome that we can probably assume. Maybe better. I don’t want to put a cap on a guy, but judging on what he has done so far, that’s probably best outcome. Can you live, and I’m asking you, this is not rhetorical, can you live if he is a league average first baseman who struggles against righties with say a 650 OPS against righties, but has a 770 OPS against lefties. Can you live with that? I I think you can given the strengths of the of this roster elsewhere. Can you pl basically platoon him if you need? Yeah, I mean this this organization as we know loves platoon and it won’t change just because Tony Manelino might not be the manager and Brandon Hyde is not the manager anymore. Like this organization firmly believes in platooning matchups. They’re going to keep doing it so long as Michaelas is in charge. I will say so this was this was interesting. You know, we’re we were talking one time with uh with Tony Manzelino um and he pointed out that platooning is great. However, if you look at, and he’s correct in this, if you look at teams that win the World Series, their young players become everyday players and there’s fewer platoon players on World Series winning teams. Interesting. So, he said that is maybe the next step for this team. and and when when you’re a younger player, you know, it makes sense, I suppose, for the management to say, let’s put them in a position to succeed so their confidence is high, that they y, you know, don’t completely wipe out immediately. Um, but at some point they do need to prove that they can do it against any pitcher. Yep. So, I mean, look at the Dodgers. How many platoon players do they have? They probably have a couple in the outfield, right? And that’s about it. Yep. Um it’s it’s a pretty, you know, set lineup. Same with the Brewers at this point. It’s a fairly set lineup except for the outfield construction which has been, you know, kind of fluctuating every every couple days. So with that in mind, it is I think it’s okay if what Koe Mayo is next year and it’s hopefully not the ceiling on him as a player in the future. Again, he’s going to be 24. Um, which reminds me, I covered Maryland volleyball as a freshman in college, great time. And the then Maryland coach, Steve Herd, great guy, said one time, I I asked him some question about developing and like, you know, promising players and how they, you know, they need to eventually show it. And he was like, “Yeah, they need to eventually show it.” But he said, “So frequently in this world, everybody wants a microwave dinner, but what tastes best often takes the longest to cook.” And it always stuck with me. It’s true. I love it. It’s so true. A microwave dinner is so fast and easy and everybody wants that. Yeah. Instant gratification. Instant gratification. But sometimes Koe Mayo might be a stew. He might be a crock-pot and you need to let it simmer all day. Sure. Or for multiple seasons of this, you know, and and he’s only been up for for periods of those seasons. You know, he hasn’t had a full even this year was was he was only up for he was up for most of it but not all of it. He hasn’t technically had a full season at this point. So, with that in mind, if we’re thinking about a crockot, delicious. I don’t want mayo in my Well, I don’t I don’t either. I don’t either want mayo in my stew, but um there could be a point that that it it takes time for some players to develop. Naturally, some players come out like gang busters. I mean, think about Jackson Merrill and Jackson Turo. They had their struggles, too, at at points. So, it’s not always super easy for a young player to become a superstar. Look at Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Um, phenomenal player, number one, phenomenal. We can all agree. Uh, had a down year, maybe two years ago, if not last year. Yeah. Uh, two years ago. Two years ago, and comes out in October this year and really all season and proves why he was paid, how much money he was paid. Yeah. So, it’s not unusual for a young player to go through hiccups. Yeah. Um, at the same time, you need to show it eventually. You know, you can’t have, you know, like the Super Bowl starting and you have your chili. It’s been it’s been simmering all day. Kickoff’s here, man. You know, at a certain point, like, you got to show it. You got you got to you got to say chili’s ready. Yeah. Yeah. You got to feed the crowd. Exactly. Uh, yeah. I mean certain point it’s it’s a tough spot for the Orioles too because they are a team that needs to win now. They are a team that needs to take advantage of this competitive window and in 2024 I think an example you could use is Jackson Holiday. All the struggles that he went through. Orioles obviously get swept out of the playoffs but they’re still 90 win team despite the fact that they had a second baseman who was one for his two for his first 35 and struggled even when he came back. And that’s they were able to overcome that because they were so deep around him. And the Orioles last year, this past year, did not have that kind of depth. So that if one player struggled, it they weren’t able to overcome it. Um, so if Kobe Mayo goes through more rough patches in 2026, but they continue to throw him out there, but the rest of the team is so good that, you know, he the the Orioles are fine with it and he’s batting ninth every day. That’s fine. But they can’t have Kobe Mayo struggling and Jackson Holidayiday struggling and Colton Cows are struggling and Adley Rutman struggling. At some point, most of the guys of this lineup have to gel and have to get it going. That’s the number one priority for this team is figuring out how to get their players back to what they should be. Um, more than adding anybody in the in in the offseason. And they probably need to add people. The bullpen absolutely need to add to the bullpen. is is a shell of itself. The starting rotation probably needs one if not two additions. Um I’d even argue a bat. Yeah, you probably need a bat. A veteran bat. Alex Bragman’s opting out. That’s true. Um the you can’t talent just doesn’t go away. So like we know they can do it. It is now about adjusting and coaching to make sure that the mentality and what they’re being taught is in a is is something that is going to allow them to rekindle the fire because what we saw in 2025 in large parts of 2024 was just not good enough from from the offense. Yeah, absolutely. It it can’t go on like that because you have players that I mean jeez they they have a lot of hype around them and that hype you know either is going to flame out or needs to prove that they are worthy of prospects the prospect status they they had worthy of being centerpieces for a franchise. Um I’d like to think that they are capable of it. Yeah. Um however until it happens nobody really knows. We are just at the start of a critical offseason for the Orioles and we will have so much more coverage for you, so many more podcasts for you on the banner baseball show feed. Andy Kusket does great work of course on the banner.com. You can subscribe $1 for six months. We will be all over this managerial search. Kyle Goon is also writing columns. John Mioli will be back from Italy I assume soon hopefully unless he decides to just stay over there. I will say uh Mioli I think has the um he has the vibe. I think he would do really well as an Italian gentleman. Yeah, I mean he sounds Oh, I’m sure. I don’t know what his what his heritage is, but I think I think he’s Italian. Yeah, man. It would sound like a great 50%. Well, oh my gosh, that’s why you guys are so great on the podcast together. That’s Yeah, it’s itarkens back to our Eastern European like me and it’s like just the whole thing is off. It was it was wonderful having you Andy and we will have you more on as we go through the off season. Um, everybody out there, go subscribe to the banner if you don’t already. Like, rate, review, subscribe. Uh, AFKuska is his handle on social media, blue sky, Twitter, all that good stuff. Uh, and I’m Paul Manano and AllBanner Sports for Andy Kuska. I’m Paul Mano. Thanks so much for tuning

The questions began as soon as the news broke. When phenom Samuel Basallo inked his eight-year extension with the Orioles in August, fans wondered: What does this mean for Adley Rutschman?
After checking in on the manager search, Banner Baseball Show co-host Paul Mancano and Orioles beat reporter Andy Kostka discuss Rutschman’s pivotal offseason.
Tune in live at 11 a.m.

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