A player who has dealt with enormous expectations for a long time, O’s catcher Adley Rutschman delivered an enormous performance on his first major league Opening Day as the Orioles held off Boston 10-9 at Fenway Park. 

Rutschman hit a solo homer in the first, delivered a two-run single in the fifth and singled in a run in the seventh. It was a 5-for-5 game and he walked once to reach base six times while driving in four runs.

Rutschman is the first player to go 5-for-5 or better with at least four RBIs on Opening Day, and he's only the third to go 5-for-5 with multiple RBIs in an opener since 1920, joining Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Billy Herman. Rutschman is the first Orioles catcher to homer on Opening Day since Matt Wieters in 2013. He is also the youngest Oriole to homer on Opening Day since Adam Jones in 2010, and the youngest to do it in his first at-bat since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1984.

Pretty historic day for the player that was the unanimous winner of the Most Valuable Oriole award in 2022 and who finished second to Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez for the American League Rookie of the Year honor.

"Not a bad way to have your first one," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Swung the bat great, caught outstanding, gives us an early boost homer there right away in the first inning."

The Orioles begin their 70^th major league season today, playing their season opener at Boston’s Fenway Park for the third time in the last four years. The Orioles open with six games on the road – three in Boston and three at Texas – before their home opener a week from today versus the New York Yankees.

The Opening Day pitching matchup features two veteran right-handers making debuts with their new clubs. Between them, the Orioles' Kyle Gibson (10-8, 5.05 ERA for Philadelphia in 2022) and Boston’s Corey Kluber (10-10, 4.34 ERA for Tampa Bay) have combined for 512 career starts and a combined 3,090 2/3 innings.

Kluber has made 251 starts, throwing 1,586 2/3 innings, with Gibson at 261 starts and 1,504 innings.

The Orioles, who lost 2-1 in Florida versus Tampa Bay in the 2022 opener, are opening away from home for the fifth season in a row. They are 44-25 all-time in openers and 12-12 when they open on the road. The Orioles won on Opening Day eight straight seasons from 2011-2018, but are 1-3 in the last four opening games. At Fenway Park they lost 13-2 in the 2020 opener and won 3-0 on Opening Day 2021. Overall they are 9-3 in their last 12 season openers.

Baltimore and Boston have squared off on Opening Day 10 times, with the Orioles holding a 7-3 advantage (5-1 in Baltimore and 2-2 at Boston).

Here is the break-camp roster for the Orioles’ Triple-A Norfolk Tides team. The Tides begin their 53^rd season in the International League at 6:35 p.m. Friday night when they play at Durham. After three games there this weekend, Norfolk opens its home season at Harbor Park on Tuesday night versus Gwinnett. 

The current Tides roster includes 10 players currently on the Orioles 40-man roster and nine players currently ranked among their top 30 prospects by Baseball America. It includes 10 players that MLBPipeline.com ranks in the team's top 30. Norfolk has six players ranked currently in the Baseball America top 100 list. 

Pitchers: Eduard Bazardo, Yennier Canó, Ryan Conroy, Noah Denoyer, Kyle Dowdy, Reed Garrett, DL Hall, Darwinzon Hernández, Joey Krehbiel, Morgan McSweeney, Grayson Rodriguez, Drew Rom, Phoenix Sanders, Chris Vallimont, Nick Vespi, Spenser Watkins, Ryan Watson, Bruce Zimmermann.

Catchers: Maverick Handley, Mark Kolozsvary.

Infielders: Greg Cullen, Lewin Díaz, Cadyn Grenier, Josh Lester, Connor Norby, Ryan O’Hearn, Joey Ortiz, Jordan Westburg.

Welcome to Opening Day 2023. A new season is here. This afternoon at Boston’s Fenway Park, the Orioles begin their 70^th season since they began playing in Baltimore in 1954.

New year, new rules, new schedule. It all collides and begins today.

For the third time in four seasons, the year will begin in Boston. The Orioles lost the opener 13-2 at Fenway Park in 2020 but won 3-0 the next year on a three-pitcher two-hitter. John Means went the first seven innings and then Tanner Scott and César Valdez went the last two. The Orioles swept a three-game series by a combined 18-5 score to start that year at 3-0. But they then lost eight of their next 10 on their way to 110 losses.

Things are better now and we’re surely glad for that. The Orioles won 83 games last year, a 31-win improvement, and were the winningest non-playoff team in the American League. They finished three wins out of a playoff spot. This year the goal is to make up those three games and find themselves playing postseason games in October for the first time since the 2016 season.

Right-hander Kyle Gibson, who posted a record of 10-8 with a 5.05 ERA while making 31 starts for the 2022 National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, makes his regular season O’s debut today. In eight career starts versus Boston he is 3-4 with a 3.38 ERA and .604 OPS against. In four career games at Fenway Park, he is 2-1 with a 1.57 ERA and .450 OPS against. So, pretty good.

There will be a lot new to fans when a new season of Orioles baseball at Oriole Park at Camden Yards begins next Thursday, April 6 at 3:05 p.m. when the O’s host the Yankees in their home opener.

From the field to the food and at several stops in between, there is newness all around.

Let’s start with the playing surface. Nicole Sherry, Orioles senior director, field operations, said the field was replaced in December.

“Huge project took place, completed December of 2022. We replaced the entire field. Five inches of old rootzone material came out and five inches of new 100 percent sand went in and brand new Kentucky Bluegrass sod was laid. It’s been a long offseason for the groundscrew, but we’ve got it looking great. So we’re excited,” Sherry said earlier today at Oriole Park, where the field looked spectacular.

“It was about three weeks worth of work. A lot of material brought in and hauled out. By far the biggest project we’ve had to do in my 20 years here,” she added. “This project has been in the process for a good three years. It was needed and thankful we were able to get it done.”

Finally, the 2023 regular season is almost here. We’re counting down hours at this point and it’s great. Baseball that counts and a potentially very exciting season of Orioles baseball is about to begin. 

They gained 31 wins last year, finished 83-79 and were just three games out of an American League playoff berth. The last time they won more than 83 was also the last time they made the playoffs, as an AL wild-card team with 89 wins in 2016.

As the pursuit of a playoff berth begins for real tomorrow, here are a few things the Orioles no doubt hope goes well for the club in the season ahead. It is just a partial list.

Stay healthy: Captain Obvious called to suggest I didn’t need to state this one, but I did anyway. The Captain was not amused. Yes, every team could use good overall health over six months and 162 games. Some teams have a larger margin for error however. But key injuries can make the difference in the standings. The Tampa Bay Rays will begin the year without right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who could debut in May. The Yankees, who won the AL East by seven games with 99 victories last year, will be down a few starting pitchers to begin the season including lefty Carlos Rondón. He has a left elbow strain and is expected to begin the year on the injured list but could return before April is out.

The Orioles are a deeper organization on Opening Day 2023 than a year ago, but still likely need most of their key players to stay on the field to truly have a postseason shot. Getting John Means back in July, if he meets that projection and is throwing well, could be a big lift as someone coming off the IL.

As spring training began, it seemed like there was a great chance it would end with O’s top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez heading north to join the team for Opening Day. His MLB debut would await. 

But now we all will have to wait.

The debut is on hold and Rodriguez will start this season on the roster of Triple-A Norfolk. Just where he ended last year.

The spring began with great anticipation to see Rodriguez pitch in spring games and bigger anticipation to see what he could do against MLB hitters in games that count. He had been dominant on the farm and ranked for some of his time there as the sport’s No. 1 pitching prospect.

But as spring camp closed, Grayson was not pitching well enough to make the starting rotation with Opening Day set for Thursday. He will not be with the team in Boston and his MLB debut will have to wait again.

Unless the club’s decision on rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez includes significant information we are not yet privy to – which is certainly possible – I still think the Orioles should head north with the kid as the No. 5 in their season-opening rotation.

They have been pointing to the inclusion of Rodriguez in their rotation to begin this year since last season and especially since late last year when he returned to pitch on the farm in September after his lat injury.

On the final day of the 2022 season, Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias addressed both Rodriguez’s comeback from injury and outlook for the 2023 season ahead.

Said Elias then: “With an injury like he had, it’s still something to be mindful of, even at this moment in time. I think he’s going to have it way in the rearview mirror when he comes into spring training next year, and I hope he makes our Opening Day rotation. I think that’s a very high likelihood.”

It seems the plan has been for Grayson’s debut to happen to start the 2023 season all along.

With Thursday's Opening Day coming fast on, it’s time for the last edition of a few questions for another offseason time period. If the offseason can even be defined as actually the time period from the last game of one year to the first of the next. It’s probably not and that could make a good question, but we have better ones today.

So here we go.

* Should Grayson Rodriguez make the Opening Day roster/rotation?

* Which player or players should make up the four-man bench?

* Will Rule 5 pick Andrew Politi be on the roster for Opening Day?

Orioles right-hander Kyle Gibson has been named the club’s Opening Day starter and will take the mound next Thursday afternoon at Boston’s Fenway Park. Gibson emerged as a potential favorite to get that call about midway through camp and continued to pitch well in spring games, and the first game now officially goes to him.

He has said the first starter of any series can be a tone-setter for that series. Gibson’s last game that counted was a scoreless inning in the 2022 World Series for Philadelphia against Houston. He said he doesn’t see getting the ball first as any designation of himself as the ace or even the No. 1 starter on this team.

“I think there’s maybe 15 aces in the league. There’s not 30,” he told reporters Friday in Sarasota. “So, for me, it’s just the chance to start a series off, and I think that first game of every series is really important, whether it’s the first series of the year or even in Texas. I mean, that first guy really kind of sets the tone for how that bullpen is used the next three games, until the next off-day, especially. So, I think for me, it’s just trying to go out there and be a veteran leader and try to set the tone for that first series of the year.

“It does mean a lot. I don’t want to downplay that, because it is cool. I’ve only been in uniform one time (during a game) my entire career on the first day of the season, so it is a big deal. It’s fun to be on the field for that first game, but it’s not necessarily something I came here and said, ‘OK, I want to work to be the Opening Day guy.' I knew there were things that I wanted to get better at along the way to make sure that over 30 starts that I was pitching how I wanted to pitch.”

Gibson did not face Boston last year. But in eight career starts, he is 3-4 with a 3.38 ERA over 50 2/3 innings versus the Red Sox. Boston batters have hit .208/.276/.328/.604 against Gibson.

Here is an interesting question that the Orioles may not yet be prepared to answer for us, but clearly one they must have debated often internally: How heavy of a load catching should Adley Rutschman handle this year?

Last season Rutschman, who made his big league debut May 21, played in 113 games and was starting catcher in 84 of those. He made 23 starts as designated hitter and pinch-hit in a few other games. So, of the games he played in, he started at catcher in 74.3 percent of them. Over 162 games, a catcher starting that percentage would make 120 starts. And that would be a pretty heavy load, even for a young catcher.

But it’s a question, no doubt, that the O’s brass has pondered and may even have an exact game plan mapped out for this season, whether they would lay it out for us or not. Sure, they want him and his considerable defensive talents out there as often as he can handle.

But they have to take a lot into consideration here. Like at what number of games would he begin to wear down, and would his stats suffer? How about his long-term future at the position, and how hard do they want to push him as he begins his first full major league season? How much do they plan to use him as the DH?

Rutschman, who turned 25 in February, is clearly the team’s best catcher and the face of the franchise. He will certainlly become more and more of a clubhouse leader as he builds a bigger big league resume. They want him on the field and often, but not to the point that he is physically drained and the results are not what would be otherwise expected. And, obviously, they want him around playing at a high level for many seasons to come.

Just like another O’s minor league hurler, righty Ryan Long, right-hander Daniel Federman hoped he could make it onto a roster for the World Baseball Classic. And like Long, Federman had never even pitched as high as Double-A ball and not only did he make it, he has a 0.00 ERA to show for his one inning on the mound.

On March 13 in Miami, Federman pitched a scoreless and quick 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning on just nine pitches for Team Israel against Puerto Rico. He got three groundouts against Johneshwy Fargas, Nelson Velazquez and Vimael Machin.

It was over fast as he averaged, per Statcast, 92.8 mph on his fastball, which topped at 93.4. He threw four fastballs, three curves, one changeup and one cutter.

“You know, warming up in the bullpen, it definitely sped up a little bit,” Federman, 24, said over the phone this week from O's minor league camp. “You look around and see the most people you have ever pitched in front of. But I think it was good that we had some veteran guys that had played in pro ball 10 or 15 years and guys that had been in the World Series. A big emphasis to the younger guys was 'just breathe.' It’s the same game.

“So, in the ‘pen it sped up a bit, but after the first pitch it felt weirdly calm out there. I’m definitely a fiery person and definitely very energetic. But I didn’t feel sped up when out on the mound. Glad how it all worked out.”

O’s minor league right-hander Ryan Long was drafted by the club in round 17 of 2021 out of a Div. 3 school. He has pitched in 26 pro games covering 79 2/3 innings, never pitching beyond Low Single-A Delmarva, where he went 7-5 with a 3.10 ERA last year.

And then recently there he was pitching on national television for Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic. He faced and got out some of the top hitters in Major League Baseball. He struck out Mike Trout. Yep, the nine-time Silver Slugger and three-time Most Valuable Player. That Mike Trout. By a kid who was with Delmarva last season.

For someone yet to pitch at the High-A, Double-A or Triple-A levels, it was quite the moment when he took the mound in the fourth inning on March 11 in a game where Team USA would go on to win, 6-2.

This was not the Delmarva Shorebirds against the Salem Red Sox or the Fredericksburg Nationals.

In two WBC games, Long posted an ERA of 2.25. Over four innings he allowed five hits and one run with no walks and two strikeouts. His fastball averaged 94.1 mph against Team USA and topped at 96.7 mph.

A couple of quick thoughts as the Orioles hit the home stretch of spring training. They have seven spring games remaining over the next seven days and this time next week the spring games will be over.

I have no stats to compare this to past years, but the O’s spring roster for their game versus Philadelphia on Monday was at 51 with 36 from the 40-man and 15 non-roster invitees still officially on the camp roster. That seems like a lot on the roster this late in camp. The Orioles last made spring roster cuts last Tuesday after their game in Bradenton versus the Pirates. (And they did make some cuts late Monday afternoon).

It is interesting that this late in camp, three young prospects, there via non-roster invites, are all still officially on the roster and I speak of Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad.

All have been impressive in this camp and all three could impact the O’s roster during the 2023 season. None is likely to be there on Opening Day but the fact the club has kept them around so long I think shows us how they feel about this group of three and that they realize all three could be back later in the year.

Kjerstad has been hitting the entire camp. On Feb. 25, in the first spring game, he homered twice at Ed Smith Stadium just missing a third homer. He went 3-for-3 and now he is 4-for-9 with a homer his last three games. He just keeps hitting the ball hard and with authority.

New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz injured his right knee and may be out for the year. Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve has a fractured right thumb and will need surgery. The first injury happened during a World Baseball Classic postgame celebration and the second during a WBC game.

Those are two key players that will miss significant portions of the coming season – maybe most or all of it – and both were injured as a result of taking part in the WBC.

No doubt fans of those teams may not be that excited about the WBC moving forward. In the game where Altuve got hit by a pitch on Saturday night, the Orioles' Anthony Santander followed him in the batting order and it could have been him that was hit and injured but luckily for the Orioles, he was not.

Despite these injuries, the WBC has been great to watch this year.

It’s great to see the talent around the world in the sport of baseball and more importantly the passion for the sport around the world. The crowds and the cheering and the TV ratings outside of the United States show us how much fans and players alike care about this event. It is a huge deal, maybe more so than it is here.

They were rotation mates in parts of the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Texas Rangers. They became more than teammates, forming a pretty close friendship as well. 

That friendship played out again over the winter when right-hander Kyle Gibson called another righty pitcher, Jordan Lyles. Gibson wanted to know about Lyles' experience pitching for the Orioles in 2022. That is because Gibson was closing in on signing with the Orioles to pitch for them in 2023.

“I think, for the most part I kind of knew that I wasn’t going to be back with Philly," Gibson recalled on a recent day at the Orioles' spring training camp. "Those few days the team has to talk to you and every team has that time where no one else can talk to them. Normally, if you don’t talk to the team then you’re not coming back,”

That led to Gibson to grab the phone and call his former Rangers teammate. Even though if he signed with the Orioles, he might be sort of taking Lyles’ spot in the rotation. He did and he, essentially, is.

Gibson said their friendship made it so that call was not awkward in any way.

When I was in Sarasota earlier this week, lefty Bruce Zimmermann talked about his spring performance. He has thrown more innings in spring games, 12, than any other O’s pitcher and has an ERA of 3.75, allowing 11 hits and five runs with three walks and eight strikeouts.

The young man from Baltimore liked how he has been mixing pitches and attacking hitters.

“I like how efficient I have been most of this spring. That is a big thing to show,” said Zimmermann, 28. “Limit walks, get guys out early. The way you get burned as a starting pitcher is going deep (in counts) in certain innings and pitch count racks up, and right now that is a positive for me to take away.”

I asked Zimmermann if he evaluates his spring mostly off the stats and box scores, or does he look at other aspects in grading his own performance?

“That is a tough question," he replied. "Because you don’t want to have an outing where the box score looks horrendous and think, ‘I want to spin this in a positive light.’ As far as box scores go, you take care of what you are wanting to show in the spring, what you work on in the offseason, and how you are attacking hitters is really important. It is still spring and you are still getting tuned up. But you still want positive outings while you tune things up in the spring.

When we talk about some of the top outfield prospects on the O’s farm, everyone mentions Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad, but fewer make note of Hudson Haskin. But after a very solid 2022 season, when he played all year for Double-A Bowie, Haskin deserves to be noticed.

He was on Monday in Sarasota. Needing more players on a split-squad day, the Orioles brought him over from minor league camp at Twin Lakes Park, and he went 1-for-3 with a homer against the Detroit Tigers. He didn’t get a non-roster invite to big league camp this year, but given a small chance this week, he flashed some of his considerable talents.

Talents that make Haskin the O’s No. 15 prospect by MLBPipeline.com and fourth among their list in the outfield, behind only Cowser, Kjerstad and Dylan Beavers. Haskin is ranked No. 21 by FanGraphs.com and No. 26 via Baseball America.

He made some news for Bowie last April 10, when he hit three homers against Richmond in the third game of the year. He hit one out to left-center, one to right-center and one to right.

“That was a surreal experience,” Haskin recalled when I interviewed him recently at Twin Lakes Park. “Something I am definitely going to remember for the rest of my life. Was just happy to do something to help the team, and it was cool how supportive all my teammates were.”

For Orioles outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad, late last year was a bit of a turning point and it was a time when he started to truly feel comfortable again in a batter’s box.

We have to remember that due to his bout with myocarditis and a spring hamstring issue this time last year, he went 27 months between games. That is crazy. But Kjerstad played March 11, 2020 for the University of Arkansas and not after that due to the pandemic that season. He then missed the 2021 season and the hammie delayed his start to last year. He finally debuted in a pro game on June 10, 2022 for low Single-A Delmarva and proceeded to go 37-for-80 over 22 games. By July 13 he was with High-A Aberdeen. But his OPS there was just .674 in 43 games.

But with the IronBirds, his swing was looking good and his bat was heating up again late in the year. He went 7-for-16 in his last four regular-season games. Then in six Aberdeen playoff games he hit .261 (6-for-23) with two doubles, a triple, six RBIs and four runs. He was driving the ball and it carried big-time into his play in the Arizona Fall League, where he batted .357/.385/.622/1.007 and hit five homers in 22 games. He was named the AFL’s MVP.

He has picked up where he left off there in this spring camp in Sarasota. Not a stretch to say he’s made as strong an impression as any player there.

“Just, you know, been able to cover the whole plate, inside and outside, and been driving the ball well to both sides of the field so far,” he said this week at Ed Smith Stadium. “Playing well always helps. Showing people that haven’t seen you play much what you have and what type of player you are. It helps them make decisions down the road.”

SARASOTA, Fla. – Almost any major outlet that ranks the top 100 prospects in baseball has the Orioles' Gunnar Henderson topping their list at No. 1.

In fact, he tops the rankings for Baseball America, MLBPipeline.com, ESPN, FanGraphs.com and Baseball Prospectus.

But it won't surprise anyone around the O’s minor leagues, or O’s fans that are getting to know the 21-year-old Henderson, that accolades won’t change him.

“I mean, it’s really humbling to hear that,” he said of No. 1 rankings. “Growing up, those are things you dream of, but to accomplish it is really cool. But it doesn’t mean anything until you go out there and do the work. That is what I’m going to do, and just looking forward to helping this team win.

“No, sir (accolades won’t change me). I feel that is just what my parents taught me: No matter what happens, good or bad, stay the same. Just know it could all change in an instant. Keeping a humble mindset.”