A capper to the best of times for Adley Rutschman

SEATTLE — While doing commentary for the MLB Network before the 2019 draft, former Oregon State coach Pat Casey was asked about the Beavers’ Adley Rutschman.

“The happiest organization on the planet will be the Kansas City Royals if the Baltimore Orioles don’t select Adley with the No. 1 pick,” Casey said. “The guy will be a multi-year All-Star, a generational catcher. He catches like he’s a shortstop, with that kind of athleticism. He’s a switch-hitter with power, an incredible athlete who is also a tremendous human being.

“They could drop him off at Camden Yards tomorrow and plug him into the lineup as catcher, and the guy on the mound would say, ‘This guy has done this before.’ They will wish they’d have had him there earlier. He’s going to bring a World Series championship to whatever organization he’s with.”

Thank you, Nostradamus.

Rutschman doesn’t yet have a championship ring, but he’s working on it.

The second-year Baltimore catcher — yes, the Orioles took him with the first pick — got his first taste of All-Star action in the American League’s 3-2 loss Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.

The Sherwood native caught the final four innings and got one at-bat, hitting the ball hard but lining out to right field in the seventh inning.

“That’s all you can ask,” Rutschman told me in the AL locker room as he dressed after the game. “Would have been nice to get a hit, but … it was awesome to be out there. So great to be around a good group of guys. Just an overall great experience.”

Rutschman had a seventh-inning throwing error on a swinging bunt, as first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. couldn’t hang on to a one-hopper. Didn’t matter, because the run didn’t score. Adley’s heads-up play the previous inning — backing up an errant throw to first — saved a run. He caught five pitchers in his innings of work, including Baltimore teammates Yennier Cano and Felix Bautista.

“It was fun catching all the guys,” Rutschman said. “Glad I got to catch Yennier and Felix as well.”

Colorado catcher Elias Dias’ two-run homer in the seventh provided the winning margin as the National League snapped a nine-game losing streak in the Summer Classic. The NL hadn’t prevailed since 2012.

Combined with Monday’s Home Run Derby — he blasted 27 home runs, including seven in 30 seconds in bonus time, but didn’t advance past the first round — it was quite a couple of days all around for Adley.

“Great experience,” Rutschman said. “Great memories. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

For the Rutschmans, the derby was fulfillment of a long-time fantasy.

“We replayed what we’d been doing for years, ever since he was eight,” Randy said. “We’d say, ‘Let’s pretend we’re in the Home Run Derby.’ We did it a couple of times every year for the last 15 years or so.”

Monday night went as smoothly as humanly possible for the pair. Through 3 1/2 minutes and 40-some swings, Adley didn’t swing at only one pitch. That means his Dad was doing his job.

“It was great,” Randy said. “Adley could have picked 100 other people to throw. He did it for the father-son experience and not to try to win the thing. But I don’t think it could have gone a whole lot better. I was really happy with it.”

It helped that the Rutschmans had batting practice sessions in New York and Minneapolis the past week. Randy and his wife, Carol, flew to New York for the Yankees’ series. When they learned that Adley would be in the Home Run Derby, the Orioles suggested they get in more BP sessions during the following road trip to Minnesota. Last Friday, Randy flew to Minneapolis and Carol flew home to Portland.

During a session at Yankee Stadium, the Rutschmans made an adjustment in Randy’s pitching style, giving the ball “more of a flat plane,” he said.

On Monday, “It was about me putting it roughly when I wanted to,” he said. “Most of the time, I got it close to where I needed to.”

If Randy had shaky nerves out there, throwing pitches before a sellout crowd of 48,000 and millions on television, it didn’t show.

“I would say a week before — a couple of days before — I was having nightmares,” he said. “But once you got in there, you shut out the crowd and you’re dialed in on the job. The only time you notice fans is if somebody hits a home run and a jolt of 20,000 cups of Starbucks goes through the stadium.”

Adley, a switch-hitter, planned to go the route batting left-handed. That changed just before the competition.

Just before the first round began, the Rutschmans ducked underneath the stadium to a batting cage for some final preparation.

“Just for the fun of it, Adley went right-handed, and it was clicking pretty good,” Randy says. “I happened to be putting it right where he needed it. He said, ‘You know what? If I get that 30-second bonus time, we’re going to do it right-handed.”

Adley smacked 20 lefty homers in his three-minute session, earning the bonus time. He then turned on the sellout crowd of 48,000 by blasting seven straight over the fence righty, the crescendo growing with each blow.

The senior Rutschman wore an Orioles uniform, featuring — of course — Adley’s No. 35. It was compliments of the team’s clubhouse manager, Freddie Tyler.

‘When I was in New York, Freddie told me, ‘We’re going to deck you out in style,’ ” Randy said. “They gave me an all-star bag and a team ‘uni’ with my number on it. They brought it to me in Minneapolis. And Nike gave me shoes to wear. Everybody took care of me.”

The Rutschmans left T-Mobile shortly after the first round was over. They were long gone by the time Guerrero beat Randy Arozarena for the title.

“Adley was hungry, and he wanted to see his sister (Josie) and spent time with some friends,” Randy said.

After the game, Adley and the Rutschman clan will pile into their Audi and drive to Oregon, where Adley will spend a day of R&R before rejoining the Orioles for Friday’s opener of a three-game home series against Miami.

Back to the grind, after a couple of days Adley — and his family — will never forget.

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