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The Baltimore Orioles placed catcher Adley Rustchman on the 10-day injured list on Saturday with a strained left oblique. It's Rutschman's first career stint on the IL. In a corresponding move, the Orioles recalled catcher Maverick Handley from Triple-A Norfolk. 

Rutschman will be out at least through the All-Star break, manager Tony Mansolino said Sunday.

This season, the 27-year-old Rutschman has endured a frustrating season. In 68 games, he's batting .227/.319/.372 with eight home runs. This continues a pattern of decline for the former No. 1 overall pick that's been in place since his standout rookie season: 

Year

OPS+

WAR

2022

131

5.4

2023

128

4.3

2024

106

3.4

2025

99

1.2*

*-Through 75 team games

The Orioles' struggles this season -- they were 33-42 and in last place in the American League East going into Saturday's slate of games -- in tandem with the fact that Rutschman will be a free agent after the 2027 season has led some to speculate that Baltimore will shop their franchise catcher leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. This injury, however, complicates matters. According to Baseball Prospectus data, players suffering oblique strains miss on average 38 days. Even if Rutschman's recovery is a standard one, that average timeline takes him right up to the deadline. 

While Rutschman is out, Gary Sánchez figures to be Baltimore's primary behind the plate. This season, the 32-year-old Sánchez has an OPS+ of 83 in 51 plate appearances. 

Any injury to Rutschman no doubt led some to wonder whether the Orioles, in response, would call up highly regarded catching prospect Samuel Basallo. Here's what Mansolino said about that possibility, via the Baltimore Banner: 

"We haven't talked about him, just to make it perfectly clear. But from my point of view, just as a development guy -- I'm a long-term development guy, not necessarily this. But as a development guy, what I would love to see is him absolutely knock the door down. I don't think you take a guy like Samuel Basallo and you bring him to the big leagues just because there's a need. I think you bring Samuel Basallo to the big leagues when he's absolutely destroyed Triple-A in all facets of the game -- his at-bats, his defense, everything. So, when he destroys Triple-A and he knocks the door down, to me, then he becomes part of the conversation. I don't personally think you bring a guy to the big leagues with that type of profile until that happens."

This season, the 20-year-old Basallo is batting .266/.374/.589 with 15 home runs in 46 games at Triple-A. He's putting up those numbers despite being much, much younger than his International League peer group. Coming into the 2025 season, CBS Sports ranked Basallo as the No. 8 prospect in baseball.