BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles interrupted their miserable 2019 season to introduce a sliver of hope for the future: Adley Rutschman, the top overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft.
Rutschman sat alongside general manager Mike Elias during a news conference Tuesday at Camden Yards before the Orioles were to face the San Diego Padres, whose most notable player, Manny Machado, was nabbed by Baltimore with the third selection in the 2010 draft.
Machado became a star, but the Orioles traded him away last year in the midst of a 115-loss season because they couldn’t afford to keep him beyond 2018.
Now in the process of a major rebuild, Elias is counting on Rutschman — a switch-hitting catcher from Oregon State — to become a key figure in the team’s rise to respectability.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
