A week after the Orioles crowned him the top pick in the MLB draft and made true a year's worth of speculation that Adley Rutschman was the top prospect in this year's crop of amateurs, he's back in Corvallis, Ore., finishing up his final exams and wrapping up what's left of his junior year before presumably signing with the Orioles and starting his professional career.
Making it through this past season — which began with high expectations after his star-turn at the 2018 College World Series — was perhaps just as hard as what lies ahead for Rutschman, who will be asked to be the face of an Orioles rebuild that's short on excitement.