BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles may have their catcher of the future.
On Monday evening, the Birds selected 21-year-old Adley Rutschman with the first-overall pick of the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
The switch hitting Oregon State backstop batted .411 with 17 home runs and 58 RBI's during his junior season, good enough to win him the 2019 PAC-12 Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
Rutschman is the Orioles second first-overall pick in franchise history, following only pitcher Ben McDonald, who was chosen first in the 1989 draft.
The Orioles last selected a catcher in the first round in 2007, when they drafted Matt Wieters fifth overall.
