Orioles star catcher Adley Rutschman competed in the 2023 MLB Home Run Derby at T-Mobile Park in Seattle July 10 with his father pitching to him, putting on a show that fans and the Rutschman family will never forget.
Rutschman crushed a total of 27 home runs as a switch-hitter in the first round. He cranked 20 home runs as a left-handed batter during the three minutes before switching to the other batter’s box and blasting seven homers during a 30-second bonus period as a right-handed batter. Seven of Rutschman’s eight swings as a right-hander resulted in home runs.
According to Randy Rutschman, the switch-hitting performance was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“Everybody that was in the Home Run Derby would take a couple hacks behind the dugout in the underneath, indoor cage,” Randy said on Glenn Clark Radio July 13. “We were there and I think that just he flipped over to the right side for the fun of it because we already determined we were going to go left-handed.”
Randy prepared his son to bat left-handed because Adley has slightly more power with that swing and Randy normally throws better when Adley hits from the left side. But in the batting cage, the father-son duo was on the same page.
“I was laying them right there and … he goes, ‘Listen, if we go to that bonus round we’re going right-handed,’ and I go, ‘Exactly, I’m right with you. It will be fun for the crowd,'” Randy said.
Adley recorded the third-most home runs among the eight participants in the opening round, but that wasn’t enough to outduel Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr., who only had to hit one home run in his bonus period to move on.
Still, the experience Adley and Randy had, paired with the excitement of the crowd, is one Randy will never forget.
“I’m still trying to put it together right now so trying to organize my thoughts on it, but it was quite a rush,” Randy said. “… Once you got there that night, the emotions and the positive energy, whether from the moment and the experience and the crowd, was unbelievable.”
Randy had not thrown Adley batting practice in four months leading up to the Home Run Derby, but that changed during the Orioles’ road trip leading up to the All-Star break. Randy threw Adley batting practice at Yankee Stadium, then threw to him in the cages at Target Field in Minneapolis. Randy even played catch with his wife Carol in Central Park to make sure he had a feel for the ball.
Adley Rutschman has been a fan favorite ever since he was called up to the majors last May. The 2019 No. 1 overall pick changed the direction of the Orioles franchise, leading them to the third-best record in the big leagues at the All-Star break.
Rutschman has quickly emerged as one of the best catchers in baseball in just his second major league season. The 25-year-old slugger received his first All-Star bid this season with a first-half slash line of .273/.376/.423 with 12 home runs, 39 RBIs and 44 runs.
Rutschman grew up in Sherwood, Ore., and won a Pitch, Hit and Run competition at the Mariners’ ballpark at the age of 8. The All-Star experience brought back memories of his childhood, as he relayed in an interview.
As competitive as the Rutschman family can be, the catcher was more focused on making his return to a familiar ballpark as memorable as possible.
“I think if Adley was so gung-ho on winning the thing he probably could’ve picked a hundred other people, but I think he was more like, ‘Regardless of how this goes, it’s going to be Dad and I,'” Randy said. “He was really bent on making it a family experience.”
Adley said afterward he is willing to compete in the Home Run Derby again in the future, which would give him another crack at taking home the trophy. His father agrees that he and his son need to win next time.
“Yeah, absolutely. I mean, since he was 8 years old, we would always have these pretend Home Run Derbies,” Randy said. “And we’ve been doing that. We did that in the offseason this year.”
For more from Randy Rutschman, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles