The franchise’s first No. 1 overall pick in 30 years has looked pretty much the way you would expect a player of his hype to look in his first weeks of professional baseball. Rutschman batted .325 in 20 games with short season Class A squad Aberdeen, and while he’s only gone 1-for-15 (.067) since being called up to Delmarva, slow starts are nothing new with him — he was batting only .167 in his first 24 at-bats with the IronBirds, but hit .462 over his last 39.
Along the way, he’s collected a walk-off hit, gone 5-for-5 in a game, and earned raves for his professionalism and workmanlike approach.