It’s been a long time since the Orioles could claim that they had the very best of anything. Perhaps they could have laid claim to the best reliever in baseball during Zach Britton’s dominant 2016 campaign. Even that was an extremely short-lived time on a relatively small mountaintop. During Manny Machado’s peak seasons of 2015 and 2016, the presence of Josh Donaldson, Nolan Arenado and others made his claim to the Best Third Baseman title tenuous at best.
Adley Rutschman’s ascension to the position of unquestioned best catcher in baseball changes all of this. Baltimore’s backstop has begun his sophomore season by continuing to show the elite on-base skills and defensive acumen that made him a rookie sensation.