Comparing struggles: Henderson early in 2023, Rutschman late in 2024

They are two of the most important players on the Orioles roster. They both have had some struggles in their short careers. We are talking here about Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman.

If one player got turned around in Gunnar, can’t Rutschman do the same in 2025?

Sure he can and after producing an OPS of .814 in 2023 to rank 15^th in the American League and .893 in 2024 to rank seventh, does anyone even remember Gunnar’s struggles?

Yep, probably not.

But early in the 2023 season there were even fans calling for Henderson to be sent back to the minor leagues. From Opening Day 2023 through May 12, Henderson had this batting line - .170/.341/.310/.651 over 33 games. Through June 8 and 54 games he had started to turn it around but still was batting just .206 although his OPS was up to .732. The rest is history.

He would produce an OPS of .849 his last 117 games and go on to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award for 2023.

What struggles?

Back around that time in 2023 when Henderson was struggling, one of the adjustments he made was to become more aggressive as a hitter. At one point he felt he spent too much time looking for the perfect middle-middle pitch to hit and that he was falling behind in counts taking too many pitches and then with a two-strike count he could not be selective and was swinging at pitcher’s pitches.

So the answer seemed to be to become more aggressive early in the count and not just wait for the perfect pitch to hit. Good hitters can hit strikes, and some good hitters can even hit pitches out of the strikezone. After you hit a three-run double or homer, no one cares if the pitch was two inches outside.

I don’t advocate for hitters to swing at pitches out of the strikezone at any time, but I also don’t question one for doing so if the result was productive.

But getting back to Rutschman, his 2024 struggles lasted longer than Henderson’s from 2023 and were worse. It's not a straight comp here exactly.

Rutschman was on a pace for a 30-homer, 100 RBI season this year through June 30. At that point he was batting .294/.350/.471/.821 in 79 games with 15 homers, 55 RBIs. He was the starting catcher in the All-Star game.

But then he stopped hitting.

In 69 games through the end of the year, he hit .194/.278/.286/.564 with four homers and 24 RBIs. Again, his struggles lasted longer than Gunnar in 2023 and were more pronounced.

After the O’s Game 2 loss in the Wild Card round to Kansas City, Rutschman told reporters he needs to “get my body right.” Although he did not indicate any specific injury or where that exactly meant.

Over his career, Rutschman has never been on the injured list. He was scratched from a game Aug. 16 with a lower back injury. But he played the next day, and he had an OPS of just .611 the previous 18 games. He was struggling before he missed that game.

In an earlier blog, I detailed how Rutschman’s batting versus righty pitching saw an OPS drop from .777 in 2023 to .631 last season. He hit the ball in the air more in 2024 and to the opposite field less while his walk rate dropped and his K rate had a slight increase.

Maybe taking all of those into account, the struggles make more sense. Except that he did have a big first half.

In the end there may be nothing gained from watching Henderson struggle in 2023 that could help Rutschman from last season. But two All-Stars had extended rough moments. One got past it and now the O’s await the other to do the same.

1966 Orioles have company: The Orioles swept the Los Angeles Dodgers four straight in the 1966 World Series. They set a MLB postseason record by throwing 33 consecutive scoreless innings to wrap up that series, pitching shutouts in Games 2, 3 and 4.

Now those O's have company. With their 9-0 win over the New York Mets last night in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series, the Dodgers now have tied those O's with 33 straight postseason scoreless innings. They ended the NL Division Series with 24 straight versus San Diego. And last night right-hander Jack Flaherty and two relievers combined on the shutout as Flaherty went the first seven. They brought their scoreless streak to 33 innings.

The 1966 Orioles were the last team to pitch three straight postseason shutouts. But now that record has been tied too. 

Remarkably, in that 1966 World Series, where they allowed just two runs in four games, the O's used just four pitchers. Dave McNally started Game 1 and Game 4. In the opener he was relieved by Moe Drabowsky while Jim Palmer and Wally Bunker pitched shutouts going the distance in the second and third games.

From the archives, there is this story from the summer of 2016 when the Orioles celebrated the 50th anniversary of that WS win.