Orioles Place Adley Rutschman on IL With Ankle Inflammation
Adley Rutschman landed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with left ankle inflammation, and the Orioles can’t afford this kind of hit right now.
Baltimore made the move official Sunday, selecting Double-A catcher Maverick Handley in a corresponding roster move and designating right-hander Chayce McDermott for assignment. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner broke the news earlier in the day when Rutschman was scratched from the lineup. The exact mechanism of the ankle injury hasn’t been disclosed, but it’s serious enough that the front office decided 10 days off was the floor, not the ceiling.
The timing is brutal. Rutschman had looked like a completely different hitter through 39 plate appearances in 2026, slashing .294/.385/.471 with a 154 wRC+. His exit velocity and hard-hit numbers were both climbing, suggesting something real was happening underneath the surface stats, not just a hot stretch propped up by fortune. A .357 BABIP does suggest some luck was baked in. Still, the Orioles were 6-7 with a minus-7 run differential when this landed, and they needed every plate appearance they could squeeze out of him.
The defensive side of this hurts just as much as the offensive side. Rutschman’s pitch framing graded in the 76th percentile last season according to Statcast, and he’d already built up two framing runs in just 81 and a third innings in 2026. His blocking and pop time sat in the 61st percentile. Not elite, but dependably above average, which is considerably more than the alternatives behind him offer.
Samuel Basallo steps in as the primary catcher. He’s a legitimate prospect, ranked the No. 13 overall prospect in baseball by MLB.com, and the Orioles showed what they think of his ceiling by locking him into an eight-year, $67 million extension last August. The defensive track record since his debut is thin, though. Handley gives them a second body, but he’s a Double-A catcher getting an emergency call. That’s not a setup any organization wants.
Because this doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The Orioles’ injured list is staggering right now.
Jackson Holliday is still working back from right hamate surgery. Jordan Westburg won’t return until late May at the earliest because of a right hamstring strain. Zach Eflin had Tommy John surgery earlier this week and won’t throw in a real game until 2027. Andrew Kittredge, Keegan Akin, and Colin Selby all went down before the season even started. Felix Bautista, who underwent labrum surgery last August, looks like a long shot to contribute at all this year.
That list reads like a team that was ravaged before it even had a chance to compete. Baltimore finished last in the AL East in 2025 and came into 2026 needing a legitimate bounceback season. Six and seven through thirteen games with this many bodies in the training room is not a reassuring start. The division won’t wait.
“We feel like he can do this,” manager Brandon Hyde said of Basallo stepping into the role, per The Baltimore Banner.
He’d better. Because the Orioles don’t have much behind him.