Orioles’ Adley Rutschman Leads Young Catchers Guiding Baseball’s Best

Young catchers are playing key roles for several teams battling for a spot in baseball’s playoffs. Will they be able to sustain it should they make the post-season?

Adley Rutschman, in his second season, has already helped the Baltimore Orioles capture a berth. Rookies Yanier Diaz in Houston, Gabriel Moreno in Arizona and San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey and Blake Sabol are trying to join him.

Rutschman is the lynchpin in Baltimore’s rapid rise. The Orioles lost 110 games two years ago, improved to an 83-79 record in his rookie year and are currently 95-57. That is the biggest two-year turnaround in history and the switch-hitter has been the unquestioned leader.

The 25-year-old has hit .275 with 19 homers, 75 RBI and played superb defense this year.

Diaz, 24, can flat-out hit and is learning how to call a game from veteran Martin Maldonado. Right now, Astros pitchers prefer working with the savvy Maldonado behind the plate in the team’s fierce three-way battle with the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners for the AL West title. They also want Diaz’s bat in the lineup, too.

Diaz has been the designated hitter in 37 games, played first base in eight, and catcher in 37 games in place of the 36-year-old Maldonado. In only 342 at-bats, he has crushed 23 homers with 59 RBI and a .287 average.

Acquired from Cleveland with reliever Phil Maton for outfielder Myles Straw in 2021, Diaz hit .321 with 52 homers and 275 RBI in 340 games in the minors. He could be a big offensive asset in the post-season.

Moreno, acquired last winter from Toronto, has hit .292 with seven homers and 46 RBI to help Arizona’s quest for an NL Wild Card berth. San Francisco is trying to claim one as well. Bailey (.244, 7 homers, 44 RBI) and Sabol (.244, 13 homers, 44 RBI) have been key to the Giants’ hopes since taking over the catching chores when veteran Roberto Perez had a season-ending injury after only five games.

They all would love to match some young catchers who won a World Series, including Hall of Famer Yogi Berra with the 1947 New York Yankees.

Berra hit only .172 with one homer in his first World Series as a rookie at age 22. He did much better in a record 13 more trips to the Fall Classic, winning a record 10. He hit .274 with 12 homers and 39 RBI in 75 World Series games overall.

Joe Garagiola was only 20 when he helped the St. Louis Cardinals win it all in 1946. Though he hit.237 with 22 RBI in 74 games in the regular season, the rookie batted .316 with four RBI in a five-game World Series triumph over the Boston Red Sox.

Bennie Tate, a 22-year-old reserve rookie, helped the Washington Senators to the 1924 World Series in an odd way. He drew three walks in three times up as a pinch hitter against the New York Giants.

In Game 3, he drew a bases-loaded walk for an RBI. In Game 5, he batted for Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson and walked. In Game 7, his walk in a two-run rally in the eighth inning helped tie the score. Washington won in the 12th inning, 4-3.

Tate played 10 years, mostly as a backup, batting .279 with 118 walks and 57 strikeouts.

Rookie Andy Etchebarren helped Baltimore sweep Los Angeles in 1966. His primary job was making sure the Orioles’ young pitchers stuck to the game plan of firing fastballs and sliders past over-matched batters. He did. The Dodgers hit a World Series record worst .142, fanned 28 times, and were scoreless the final 33 2/3 innings.

Etchebarren contributed oddly on offense in Game 2. In the fifth inning with Boog Powell on first with a single, Paul Blair reached when Dodgers three-time Gold Glove winner Willie Davis misplayed his fly ball to center for an error. Etchebarren then hit a fly to short center that Davis misplayed for an error. Powell scored and so did Blair when Davis threw wildly to third for yet another error.

Leading 3-0, Etchebarren grounded into an inning-ending double play in the sixth. He was the last batter the great Sandy Koufax ever faced. The future Hall of Famer, who had a 27-9 record, 1.73 ERA and 317 strikeouts that season, retired at age 30 due to elbow ailments.

The most recent fine performance by a rookie catcher in a World Series was by Buster Posey in 2010. After batting .305 with 18 homers and 67 RBI to win NL Rookie of the Year honors, he continued to produce in the post-season for San Francisco.

Posey hit .375 (6-for-16) in a four-game win over the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series. He cooled off (5-for-23, .217) in a six-game win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series, then hit .300 (6-for-20) with a key homer to beat Texas in a five-game World Series.

More importantly, he guided the pitchers, who held Texas to a .192 average. Tim Lincecum went 2-0, while Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain each won their starts without giving up a run.

Gene Tenace, like Rutschman a bit more experienced, had a colossal post-season at age 25 for the 1972 Oakland A’s. He hit five homers all year as a backup to Dave Duncan, then swatted four and batted .348 with 9 RBI in a seven-game triumph over the Cincinnati Reds to win World Series MVP honors.

Will a young catcher rise to the occasion next month in the post-season? Stay tuned.