A couple of leftovers for breakfast

The eventual promotion of Adley Rutschman to the major league roster, whenever it happens, comes with the expectation that the Orioles will have a veteran mentor ready as his backup. But the club already seems equipped to tutor him.

The staff isn't running short on former catchers.

Manager Brandon Hyde caught 69 games in the minors and 13 with the independent Chico Heat.

Major league field coordinator and catching instructor Tim Cossins caught 217 games in the minors and two with the independent Sonoma County Crushers. He served as the Marlins minor league catching coordinator before joining the Cubs organization.

Bench coach Fredi González caught 302 games in the minors.

They certainly know the position.

"I've found that the more catching guys that you have in an organization, the more you can learn and lean on their experience, too," said Anthony Bemboom, who signed a minor league deal earlier this month. "You can always pick up a little nugget here and there and bring something from everyone you meet. Kind of make it your own to implement in a game. It's nice to have."

The organization no longer lists anyone with the title of minor league catching instructor or coordinator. Don Werner was reassigned from Double-A Bowie manager to the system's catching instructor following the 2006 season. The Orioles let him go in September 2019.

Cossins was deemed capable of expanding his responsibilities to include the minors.

A forgotten fact about Werner is that he caught Tom Seaver's only career no-hitter on June 16, 1978 while playing for the Reds. Johnny Bench was injured.

But back to the Orioles catchers ...

A few of the Triple-A catchers in 2021 remain in the organization, naturally led by Rutschman but also including Brett Cumberland, Chris Hudgins and Cody Roberts.

Austin Wynns, Chance Sisco and Nick Ciuffo are free agents. They combined to appear in 70 games with the Orioles this summer.

* As Major League Baseball remains in its stalled condition, players are accepting offers to play overseas.

Former Orioles third baseman Rio Ruiz has signed with the Korea Baseball Organization's LG Twins. The deal guarantees $750,000 and contains $250,000 in possible incentives.

Former Orioles reliever Adam Plutko also signed with the Twins.

The Orioles claimed Ruiz off waivers from the Braves at the 2018 Winter Meetings, the first 40-man roster move by new executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. Ruiz batted .220/.292/.380 in 213 games before he was designated for assignment on May 18 and claimed by the Rockies.

Ruiz slashed .171/.225/.200 in 40 plate appearances with Colorado and was outrighted on Oct. 21.

* A player on baseball's Hall of Fame ballot must receive at least 75 percent of the votes for induction. Ryan Thibodaux (@NotMrTibbs), Twitter's king of Cooperstown calculators, crunched the numbers yesterday after collecting 79 ballots.

David Ortiz - 82.3 percent

Barry Bonds - 78.5 percent

Roger Clemens - 78.5 percent

Scott Rolen - 72.2 percent

Curt Schilling - 70.9 percent

Todd Helton - 58.2 percent

Billy Wagner - 51.9 percent

Andruw Jones - 50.6 percent

Álex Rodríguez - 49.4 percent

Gary Sheffield - 45.6 percent

Manny Ramírez - 43.0 percent

Jeff Kent - 24.1 percent

Sammy Sosa - 21.5 percent

Bobby Abreu - 12.7 percent

Andy Pettitte - 12.7 percent

Omar Vizquel - 10.1 percent

Vizquel is in the steepest decline after receiving 49.1 percent of the votes last year.