BALTIMORE—Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, who’s on the 10-day injured list for the second time this season for an oblique injury, said he wants to play again before the season ends in five weeks.
“That’s the plan,” Rutschman said on Sunday morning. “I’m working as hard as I can to come back as soon as possible.”
Rutschman missed more than five weeks when he suffered a strained left oblique in June, but he thinks the strained right oblique could heal faster.
“I’m more optimistic,” he said. “You’d have to talk to someone else about actual medical stuff. Just trying to do what I can.”
Rutschman attended the press conference celebrating catcher/first baseman Samuel Basallo’s extension, and chatted with owner David Rubenstein afterward.
“I think everyone wanted to be there,” Rutschman said. “We’re happy for him, and what an exciting day for him, his family and everyone who’s been with him on that journey. A very cool moment to be a part of it, and I think we all wanted to be there and support him.”
Rutschman, who made his debut in 2022, has enjoyed being around Basallo.
“It’s been awesome to have him here, and with this contract, extremely happy for him and excited,” Rutschman said. “A great teammate, a great person. It’s been great.”
There’s been speculation about possible extensions for other Orioles, but Rutschman declined to address his situation. He’d be a free agent after the 2027 season.
“I’m happy for Sammy, just excited to be there yesterday and support him,” he said.
Rutschman said that he’s eager to mentor Basallo. The Orioles have bench coach Robinson Chirinos, who was Rutschman’s understudy in 2022, and backup catcher Alex Jackson.
“I’m here to help,” he said. “A lot of great people around. I know how I felt when I was a rookie coming up. It can be a lot, just here to help out as much as possible, trying to help him get adjusted to everything going on in the big leagues.”
Rutschman said the extension is a good sign for the Orioles.
“I think they want to win. We want to win,” he said. “I think for everyone in this locker room, goals are the same. We want to win. We want to win a championship, and that’s kind of the extent of it.”
Rutschman thinks his teammates are good enough to win.
“I don’t think anyone has any doubts or anyone’s discouraged by the frustrating times we’ve had,” he said. “I think everyone knows how talented this group has been and the guys we have in this locker room. We have a lot of confidence in them.”
Rutschman has played in only 85 games this season, and he’s hitting .227 with a .684 OPS, nine home runs and 39 RBIs.
“It’s been frustrating. It’s been really frustrating,” he said of 2025. “I think that’s the word that everyone’s going back to. With the amount of talent we have with and just the quality of the guys we have in this locker room, everyone expects more of themselves. Everyone wants more, and it’s frustrating when you come up short of that.”
Bradish might start Tuesday
Tomoyuki Sugano is listed as Monday night’s starter against the Boston Red Sox, and Cade Povich is scheduled to start on Thursday. The Orioles don’t have a starter listed for either Tuesday or Wednesday, though interim manager Tony Mansolino said that Kyle Bradish is expected to come off the 60-day injured list and start on Tuesday against Lucas Giolito.
“I think it’s not finalized, but I’d probably bet on it,” Mansolino said.
Wednesday would have been Brandon Young’s day to start, but he sustained a likely season-ending left hamstring strain on Thursday night.
“We’ll have to figure that out because that’s B.Y.’s spot,” Mansolino said. “We’ve had conversations. We’re not ready to say anything yet. We’ve got to finalize that.”
It won’t be a bullpen game, Mansolino said.
A name to watch could be Roansy Contreras, who was with the Orioles throughout spring training and has started and relieved at Norfolk. Contreras threw 3 2/3 innings on Friday for the Tides, and is 7-3 with a 3.73 ERA.
Notes: Mansolino said that Dylan Beavers, who’s batting sixth on Sunday, will stay in the bottom half of the lineup for the rest of the season. The Orioles want to make sure Beavers and Samuel Basallo don’t accumulate 130 at-bats this season, which would render them ineligible for the Rookie of the Year award in 2026.
Rosters expand to 28 players a week from Monday, and Mansolino said that Tyler Wells could be the additional pitcher and Jorge Mateo the additional position player. “That’s good speculation in a lot of ways,” Mansolino said. “But things do change. We’ve got to stay healthy. We might need more than that with how this thing has gone. Who knows how this thing will go in the next [eight] days in terms of injuries? Mateo is at Triple-A Norfolk on a rehab assignment for a strained left hamstring. … Mansolino said that Chayce McDermott is doing well in his relief role at Norfolk. “His name has popped up here a couple of times,” Mansolino said. “There’s plenty of opportunity up here for guys to perform.”
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