Britton on Rutschman in Futures Game, plus it's draft day

BOWIE - Since he would be departing his team after Friday's doubleheader to head to Denver for the All-Star Futures Game, catcher Adley Rutschman may have wanted to leave his club on a high note.

A go-ahead solo homer to left-center to break a 2-2 tie and lift Bowie to a 3-2 win in Game 2 on Friday was a nice parting gift to the Baysox players he would temporarily say goodbye to. His blast in the fifth inning helped the Baysox get a win for right-hander Mike Baumann.

Rutschman is the Orioles' No. 1 prospect and the No. 2 prospect in baseball behind the Rays' Wander Franco. The Bowie catcher and right-handed relief pitcher Marcos Diplán will represent the Orioles today in the Futures Game.

Rutschman found out he would represent the Orioles recently in the Baysox clubhouse in front of his teammates.

"We told him in front of all the guys," Bowie manager Buck Britton told me during an in-person interview Friday at Prince George's Stadium. "Nobody was surprised. But everyone was happy for him. It's a cool honor. My brother (Zack Britton) went to the game and it is special to get selected for that and to compete with those guys. I know he will represent us well there.

"It's really not a surprise that he is a guy that plays in that game. He's a really good player and will get to show that off on a national stage. That will be good for the Orioles to send a guy like that and for the fans to get a look at him, the ones that haven't been here."

The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2019, Rutschman played in just 37 minor league games in 2019. But the organization skipped him a level and assigned him to Double-A to start the year. He's had a season that has lived up to the hype for the most part.

Over 56 games, he's hitting .283/.413/.507/.921 with 10 doubles, 12 homers, 42 runs and 37 RBIs. He has walked 43 times and struck out 39. His 16.9 walk rate ties teammate Patrick Dorrian for best among all on the O's farm. He is tied for the organization lead in homers with high Single-A Aberdeen's JD Mundy and his OPS is second only to Mundy.

Britton said Rutschman has been consistently good throughout the entire year. Not many highs or lows. His stats have been strong from the start.

Beyond the many talents he brings to the field, Britton said Rutschman has worked hard to fit in with his teammates off the field and in the clubhouse. He's got a big name and a baseball resume and gets a ton of attention. But he wants to be just one of the guys.

"I just think it's the type of character he has," said Britton. "He's kind of a quiet guy - more of a silent leader. But, yeah, that is all he wants to do is be part of the team. Whatever he can do to the help the team, it's not about Adley Rutschman. He knows who he is and he is confident in his abilities. But he doesn't care about the outside noise. When he is in the locker room, he just wants to be one of the guys. And it kind of helps set the tone in there. Grayson (Rodriguez) has a similar personality too. So when your best players are like that, everyone just kinds of feeds off that and it becomes a tight-knit group."

As the season turns the corner and heads for the second half, Britton doesn't have any specific goals for Rutschman.

"I think it's just getting him reps," Britton said. "Not that we've played some teams a second time, especially after a six-game series, the next time they make adjustments. It's really the first time he's had to make some adjustments. But I joke all the time. I'm kind of still waiting for Adley to get hot. I look up at the scoreboard every night and it's .290 with 11 homers. Dang, when he gets hot how crazy will this be? He walks a ton. He's just a really, really good hitter. But I haven't seen him get on a torrid stretch when he goes like 15-for-20. But it's the same guy. It's just what he does.

"I think he'll continue to grow. He's getting great reps behind the plate, catching a lot of different guys. I don't know what to expect honestly. I know he's going to get better and when he does it will be fun to watch."

For Triple-A Norfolk, the 24-year-old Diplán has gone 3-0 with a 2.60 ERA. Over 17 1/3 innings. He has walked six and fanned 22. The Orioles acquired him via waivers from the Detroit Tigers on Dec. 9, 2019 at the Winter Meetings.

Draft day arrives: The Orioles have the No. 5 pick in round one tonight of the First-Year Player Draft. Some analysts see a top-tier group of eight players, including four high school shortstops, two Vanderbilt pitchers, along with high school pitcher Jackson Jobe and University of Louisville catcher Henry Davis.

If the O's have them ranked in that manner on their board, they can certainly get one of those eight with the fifth pick. They've been linked in various reports to several players, including Davis and high school shortstop Kahlil Watson.

The slot amount for the No. 5 pick is $6,180,700. The Orioles also could go underslot with their No. 5 pick and spend that savings on later picks.

The draft is set to last 20 rounds over three days and the Orioles will make just one pick when the draft begins tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The clubs will select Monday in rounds two through 10 and Tuesday with rounds 11 through 20.

The Orioles have picks No. 5, 41, 65 and 76 in the top 100.

Big club lost again: The Chicago White Sox are having their way with the Orioles this season. They beat the Birds 8-3 on Saturday at Oriole Park as starter Thomas Eshelman allowed four runs over two innings.

Chicago is 6-0 against the Orioles by a combined score of 38-11.

The Orioles (28-60) have lost six of seven games.

O's starters have thrown less than five innings in 11 of 12 games and less than six innings in 36 of 39 games. The rotation ERA is 9.16 over the past 15 games.

Right-hander Spenser Watkins gets the start today in the final game before the All-Star break.

I'll be part of the "MASN All Access" draft show tonight beginning around 7:15 p.m.

For more reading up on the draft, you can revisit this interview I did with MLBPipeline.com's Jim Callis and/or this interview with Baseball America's J.J. Cooper. Both include Zoom video interviews as well.

The MLB Draft is a day away! Tune in for live coverage of the Orioles' pick at No. 5.

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