O's Brandon Hyde talks about Adley Rutschman batting leadoff tonight

He is in the top five of the American League in walks and ranks top 10 in on-base percentage. And those are two big reasons O’s catcher Adley Rutschman will bat leadoff for the first time in his career tonight.

In 98 games this season he is batting .268/.368/.426/.794 and he ranks tied for third in the AL with 60 walks and is tied for eighth in OBP.

“Something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while,” manager Brandon Hyde said this afternoon. “It’s just because he is such a high on-base guy and just have him hit in front of Gunnar (Henderson) and (Anthony) Santander and (Ryan) O’Hearn. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and playing with it a little bit. Just give it a try.”

Could it become more permanent?

“Maybe. Not really sure. Against righties right now, but I could switch it in a couple of days too. We’ll see when Ced (Cedric Mullins) gets back also, what I’m going to do there. But we’re just giving it a try right now. Feel like with Adley’s on base numbers, he’s on base all the time. I like the idea of him hitting in front of Gunnar,” said Hyde.

Rutschman has batted second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth over his 211-game MLB career.

“The way he takes an at-bat, I’m comfortable hitting Adley anywhere," Hyde added. "So, it’s really the first at-bat of the game and people make a big deal. But if he’s hitting in the top three spots, that’s where I want him. Start the game in the leadoff spot.”

Per a tweet from Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Rutschman is the fifth Oriole catcher to bat leadoff. He joins Chance Sisco (8/19/20), Floyd Rayford (6/26/85 and 7/30/84), Curt Blefary (4-17 through 4/19/68) and Clint Courtney (9/26/53).

Henderson had been swinging a good bat lately for the Orioles, but Hyde said this was not necessarily about moving him down in the order.

“It was more about getting Adley up,” he said. “I’m comfortable with Gunnar hitting anywhere in the top three or four spots also.”

Hyde gave Rutschman advance notice he could be moving atop the order.

“I called him a couple of days ago when I was considering doing it. He was how you think he would be - all for it. He was great,” said Hyde.

Meanwhile the Orioles send Tyler Wells (7-5, 3.65 ERA) to the mound tonight. He is coming off back-to-back short starts where he allowed eight earned runs in 6 1/3 versus the Dodgers and Rays.

“It’s been command-base,” Hyde said of those struggles by Wells after an eight-start run where his ERA was 2.83. “In Tampa early, you could tell the command wasn’t what it normally is like. He had such a great first half, league leader in WHIP and not walking people. When you start to see some walks and a lot of deep counts, you realize he is dealing with adversity for the first time this year. I think that is super normal.”

Is Wells tiring after passing his 2022 season innings total recently?

“It is what it is. He has thrown more innings and you definitely monitor it and see how he reacts. And how he looks out there. But in the last inning the other day in Tampa, he was hitting 94. For me that was a bit more command-based. Maybe a mechanical thing," the skipper said.

Left-hander DL Hall’s latest outing produced encouraging results. Yesterday he had a two-inning scoreless outing in the Florida Complex League allowing just one hit and one walk with six strikeouts. His velocity was 95, 96 mph with his fastball. He is scheduled to throw an inning in a game on Tuesday.

Plenty of time left in this season for Hall to impact the O's pitching staff this year.