The Orioles are weighing their options after Rutschman exited a game over the weekend.

Not much has gone to plan for the 2025 Baltimore Orioles. Questions surrounding roster construction and underperformance have only been amplified by the injury bug, which has hit the O’s harder than just about any team in baseball.

A lineup that is already without Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, and Tyler O’Neill might’ve just lost another big piece.

Adley Rutschman was removed from Sunday’s game against the Boston Red Sox after taking a foul ball off the mask. He was not included in the starting lineup for Monday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Tony Mansolino has not provided a definitive answer regarding whether Rutschman is in concussion protocol.

Without a roster move, there is still hope that Rutschman won’t miss an extended amount of time with an injury. If he does, however, the road to replacing him looks murky.

Gary Sanchez, signed by the Orioles this offseason to be Rutschman’s backup, has not appeared in a game since April 27. He has started to take batting practice, but would presumably need rehab appearances before returning to the big leagues.

A gut reaction may be to consider calling up Samuel Basallo, who is putting up eye-popping numbers in Triple-A Norfolk.

It is important to note that Basallo is still fresh off injury and has only caught five games for the Tides this year. He is also just 20 years old, and given where the O’s sit in the standings, rushing him in hopes of immediate production may not be worth the risk.

For the moment, that leaves Maverick Handley and the newly promoted Chadwick Tromp.

Despite not putting up great numbers at the dish, Handley has won some fans over with his ability to do the little things: sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies, and calling a great game behind the plate.

Those are great qualities, but they don’t make for an incredibly suitable replacement. Tromp has appeared in 61 big league games in a six-year career, collecting 35 hits and five runs. Again, a short-term fix.

The hope is that Rutschman, if he is placed on the injured list, won’t miss much time. If that’s the case, the calls for Basallo would seemingly be a bit premature. In the meantime, Handley appears to be the primary catcher in Birdland.

This particular problem doesn’t have any easy solutions.