Can Orioles Young Star Return to All-Star Form To Help Get Team on Track?

A lot of attention has been given to the Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff as the reason for the team’s struggles this season, and rightfully so.

Outside of veteran starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, all of the additions the front office made during the winter backfired. The team received brutal production from Charlie Morton and Kyle Gibson, leading to the team being in this deep of a hole.

Even going back to last year’s trade deadline, when the Orioles acquired Trevor Rogers from the Miami Marlins, looks like a massive miss. Rogers had an excellent debut in 2025, but one of the prospects they traded away, outfielder Kyle Stowers, looks like an All-Star.

Baltimore could certainly use that production in their lineup, with so many of their players struggling to produce.

It has been nice to see veteran Ryan O’Hearn playing at such a high level. He has been the most consistent batter the team has had all year, which is both good and bad.

On an expiring contract, the Orioles should be able to get some real value for him ahead of the trade deadline. But in a lineup that includes All-Stars such as catcher Adley Rutschman, O’Hearn leading the way is a major disappointment.

Adley Rutschman Has Been a Major Disappointment for Orioles

The fall-off of the team’s young core of positional players in 2025 is something even former rivals cannot wrap their heads around.

Baltimore looked like a juggernaut in the American League once their young core began to come together a few years ago. Their window of contention was going to be open for years with so many talented players under team control.

Alas, things haven’t panned out as planned, currently 19-35 and in the cellar of the AL East.

The struggles of Rutschman are one of the many contributing factors to their struggles, as his woes have been occurring for nearly a calendar year.

“Then there's Rutschman, whose extended struggles date back to last season: Since the 2024 All-Star Break, Rutschman is hitting .207 with a .585 OPS and a 70 wRC+. The sooner both stars can get back on track, the more likely it is that the Orioles will resemble the team that won 90+ games in each of the last two seasons,” wrote Jared Greenspan of MLB.com in a piece highlighting players who need to step up to help their struggling teams get on track.

Rutschman has a .211/.310/.349 slash line, well below the level of play the team has become accustomed to receiving from him over the first few years of his career.

His power outage, which started last year, is especially concerning. He hit two home runs on Opening Day and has only three since, to go along with seven doubles and one triple.

A key cog in the team’s operation, it will be interesting to see how they handle things in the future. His track record speaks for itself about how talented he is, but this extended streak could have the team rethinking their long-term plans, especially with talented prospect Samuel Basallo waiting in the wings.