BALTIMORE, MD (WBFF) — Months before the Orioles selected him 37th overall in this summer’s MLB draft, Slater de Brun already saw one of Baltimore’s biggest stars as a mentor.
Adley Rutschman met de Brun last offseason when he made the trip out to Bend, Oregon, to meet with de Brun’s Summit High School team as a favor to his former Oregon State teammate George Mendazona, one of their assistant coaches. Rutschman and de Brun played catch and the then-high school standout quickly started peppering him with baseball questions.
“I asked him about hitting immediately and spacing with the hands and he was super keen to just give me advice and stuff,” de Brun said Tuesday in his first news conference since Baltimore signed him away from his Vanderbilt commitment. “So, that was amazing.”
They stayed in touch through Instagram as de Brun cemented his status as one of the country’s top prep outfielders, ultimately landing with the Orioles in the back end of the first round. The club invited de Brun along with fellow first-round picks Ike Irish, Wehiwa Aloy and Caden Bodine to Camden Yards on Tuesday to take batting practice and meet players in the clubhouse.
Read the full story on the Baltimore Sun.