Updated 11/22/2020 6:30 AM

Minor league baseball went dark last season due to the COVID-19 crisis, bad timing for those in the beginning stages of their professional careers.

Even so, Adley Rutschman made the most of his 2020 non-season.

The No. 1 pick in the 2019 major-league draft spent the summer on the Baltimore Orioles’ 60-man roster, though he trained with the minor-league group in Bowie, Md., about 30 miles south of the city.

“It went about as good as it could have gone considering the situation,” Rutschman says from his offseason apartment in Portland. “I was training with guys going up and down (from the Orioles to the minor-league camp).

“It was good to be around that level of competition and see how guys go about their business on a day-to-day basis. It gave me a chance to pick their brains and figure out some things, so I was happy about it.”

Rutschman got a taste of pro ball after the 2019 draft, hitting a collective .254 with a .351 on-base percentage, four home runs and 37 RBIs in 37 games with three teams at the low minor-league level.

After a winter training in Oregon, the 6-2, 215-pound switch-hitting catcher from Sherwood reported to the Orioles’ major-league spring training site in Sarasota, Fla., in early February. He was in big-league camp with six other catchers for about a month.

“It was really impressive the way he handled himself,” Mike Elias, the Orioles’ general manager and executive vice president, told the media. “He has a good head on his shoulders.”

“It was eye-opening,” says Rutschman, who led Oregon State to the 2018 College World Series championship, earning MVP honors as well as consensus National Player of the Year awards. “I had a lot of fun. It was a short amount of time and everything was new, getting acclimated to what they were doing. But I’m glad I got that opportunity.”

Rutschman got nine at-bats I’m Grapefruit League action, getting just one hit — a pinch-hit single.

Was that meaningful?

“Absolutely,” he says. “Getting those firsts out of the way are important. It’s always fun to be able to check something off the bucket list.”

On March 6, Rutschman was sent to minor-league camp just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to take hold across the U.S. A week later, MLB announced that spring training camps were suspended. Shortly thereafter, Rutschman returned to Oregon.

“We had heard we were going to be back in two weeks when it initially got shut down,” he says. “That kept getting stretched out — a month, two months.

“There was no shortage of motivation in the beginning because we thought we’d be back so soon. As it got later and later, the optimism died down.”

All the gyms and baseball facilities in Oregon were closed during what amounted to a lockdown in the state for three months. Adley and his father, Randy, put together a workout facility in the Rutschman garage. Adley collected a group of players — including former OSU teammate Zak Taylor — to get together at least a couple of days a week.

“That was really helpful,” Rutschman says. “I got a lot of work in during that quarantine time. Zak and I did some catching stuff together. There were college and minor league guys around who wanted to throw bullpens, so I got to face some live arms. We’d go wherever we could, to a field or indoor facility of whatever was open.”

In late June, as the number of COVID cases fell, MLB opened up again. The decision was made to cancel the minor-league season, though all players on the 60-man major-league were asked to report.

“I got a call to be ready by July 1,” Rutschman says.

He flew to Maryland and trained with the major-league players at Camden Yards for three weeks as the Orioles prepared their Bowie training site for operation.

“That was really cool, to get to spend some time at the big-league level,” he says.

Once the minor-leaguers moved to Bowie, Rutschman was housed in a hotel there for 2 1/2 months.

“Training was basically every day, with an off day here and there,” he says. “Every day, we got in a lot of weight-lifting, pre-work, hitting with coaches and individual defense work. We’d catch bullpens and, at the end of the day, hit off live pitching — two to six pitchers on any given day. They were prospects for the most part, guys going up and down from the big leagues to the 60-man (roster).

“It was a really good experience and the work was very specific. We had probably 30 guys there at a given time depending on how big the big-league roster was. Hitters got a lot of individual time to talk to coaches.”

Rutschman says he tinkered with his swing during that time.

“I was always doing different things, making small adjustments, playing around,” he says. “I’m always trying to do that. That time was really good for that.”

Rutschman was also working hard at the defensive end. In college, the team’s pitching coach relays the pitch calls from the dugout. In the pros, the catcher calls the game on his own, “going on scouting reports and your instincts,” Adley says.

“It makes the game more intellectual,” he says. “Each pitcher has a different way to throw to batters. (Calling pitches) makes catching even more fun. But it’s also definitely more of a challenge.”

In October, Elias, said that Rutschman had “a tremendous summer camp.”

“Adley has special abilities all the way around,” Elias said of the franchise’s No. 1-rated prospect, who reaped an $8.1-million bonus to sign — largest in MLB history. During the summer, “he faced nothing but Double-A, Triple-A and major-league arms. To do that and adapt to it is something that’s hard to replicate, but he did that. That was good to see.”

After the MLB season, Rutschman spent time in fall instructional league in Sarasota, where he played nine-inning exhibition games against minor-league teams from other organizations. It was the first games in which he had participated in more than a year.

“That was cool,” he says. “It was therapeutic for a lot of guys.”

Rutschman watched as former OSU teammate Nick Madrigal hit .340 in 29 late-season games with the Chicago White Sox.

“You knew Nick was on the fast track as soon as he got to the minor leagues,” Rutschman says. “As soon as he got up there (to the majors), he started hitting. That was great to see.”

Rutschman never got a call-up in 2020, but he may get his chance next season. Or maybe not. The Orioles — not at the point where they’ll contend for the division or American League titles any time soon — may choose to be patient with their top prospect. The lost 2020 season set everyone back a year, and the club will have to decide if Adley would benefit from more time at either the Double-A or Triple-A level in 2021.

Minor-leaguers are protected through seven years. If the player doesn’t make a team’s 40-man major-league roster after four years, another team can claim him. Also playing into the decision: When to start Rutschman’s clock toward free agency. MLB players are eligible after accruing six full years of service time. The longer a team suppresses the start of a player’s service time, the longer he is locked up.

On the other hand, Rutschman turns 23 in February and is blessed with unusual skills and maturity beyond his years. It may behoove the Orioles to get him in a big-league uniform and begin to develop their catcher of the future.

If Rutschman has any frustration over it, he’s not letting on.

“It’s not my decision, nor do I have any control over it,” he says. “I’m just focused on being the best player I can. Whatever they decide to do is up to them. I’m just going to get myself ready to play baseball.”

Rutschman will winter in Portland, then depart for Sarasota whenever MLB is given the go-ahead to begin spring training.

“I’m probably overconfident in myself,” he says. “You have to be as a player. I’ve never been in the big leagues so I don’t know what it’s like, but I think I’ll succeed wherever I go. I’ll do what I can to get ready for when I do get that opportunity.”

Readers: what are your thoughts on the 2019 MLB number one draft pick? Beavers fans, are you continuing to follow Rutschman’s career at the next level? Share your comments below.

Reach out to Kerry Eggers here.

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