Adley Rutschman is back in the Orioles lineup. How can he get back to his old self?

Among the most puzzling parts of the Baltimore Orioles’ 2025 season has been the play of Adley Rutschman. After struggling in the second half of 2024, the star catcher showed up to Spring Training looking like a new man.

Manager Brandon Hyde praised the work he had done in the offseason and the intensity with which he approached his early work. Rutschman was in great shape and tore the cover off the ball, mashing for a .357 average with a 1.033 on-base plus slugging percentage.

In his first game of the regular season, Rutschman clobbered two home runs. In the opening series of the year, he collected five hits for a .313 batting average, .750 slugging percentage, and a 1.139 OPS. He was back.

All indications pointed to the second half of 2024 being a minor blip on the radar, a footnote in the career of a multiple-time All-Star at the peak of his powers.

The season, however, hasn’t gone according to plan.

Since those first four games in Toronto, Rutschman has only added three more home runs, hitting .195 with an on-base percentage below .300 and an OPS hovering around .600. It’s a far cry from even his rookie season, in which the Oregon State product accumulated 5.4 bWAR with an OPS above .800.

After a scare in Boston with a foul ball off the mask, Rutschman avoided the injured list. But he has yet to avoid questions about his results.

The Orioles need immediate improvement from Adley Rutschman

Rutschman’s advanced metrics don’t back up his poor play.

His expected batting average, according to Statcast, is 62 points higher than his actual batting average, currently sitting at .206.

He ranks in the 75th percentile or better in xwOBA, squared-up rate, chase rate, whiff rate, strikeout rate, and walk rate. In fact, a majority of his analytical metrics are better than his 2022 season, when he finished 12th in American League MVP Award voting.

The areas in which Rutschman is either average or below average, namely exit velocity, hard-hit rate, and bat speed, have never been areas of strength for the catcher, even at his best. In 2023, arguably the best season of Rutschman’s career, he was in the 35th percentile or worse in all three of those statistics. In 2025, his exit velocity has actually improved, while his hard-hit rate and bat speed remain below average.

Diving further into the numbers, it’s hard to find any reasons why Rutschman’s performance has fallen below expectations. Perhaps it’s approach-based, as his value against fastballs has dropped drastically, according to FanGraphs. Or perhaps we can simply attribute it to bad luck and assume that he will return to his old self once balls start to drop in the right spots.

Whatever the answers may be, the Orioles are hoping Rutschman can find them quickly.