Crummy Red Sox Luck Aside, Adley Rutschman Won't Stay Down For Long

When the Boston Red Sox traded for Adley Rutschman, excitement was high throughout the fanbase as the team decided to go all-in and acquire a genuine All-Star in hopes of increasing their championship odds. There were some concerns, however; namely, Rutschman was on the injured list at the time with left wrist inflammation. It was his third time on the injured list this year after previous stints with left ankle inflammation and a concussion. Add to it that his OPS was just .671 from the beginning of May until he went on the injured list in July, and you had a recipe with a decent chance of turning out something inedible.

Now with the Red Sox, Rutschman’s offense has yet to come back around as he’s hitting .146/.255/.244 since being traded. That's an OPS below .500 and and a 43 wRC+. He’s gotten just six hits, with four of them being singles while one was a double and the other was a home run. He’s also struck out 12 times.

When you trade three of your top five prospects along with another who was in the top 20, not to mention starting catcher Carlos Narváez (even if his struggles have continued with Baltimore), you would hope for better production. Instead the team has gotten a backstop who has turned in the lowest exit velocities of his career (84.5 mph on average), has the lowest hard-hit rate of his career (34.5%) and has struck out at a career-high rate (25.5%) since being acquired.

And yet, I'm here to tell you that it’s too early to worry. There are several factors leading to these issues that can be fixed, and there are others showing that he’ll be just fine.

The biggest issue was that Rutschman was rushed back to Boston. When acquired at the deadline, he had last played in a professional game on July 18 before being placed on the injured list two days later with wrist inflammation. Upon joining the Red Sox organization, the team wasn’t sure when he would be ready for a rehab appearance but knew he was close. On August 8, five days after being acquired, he was sent on a rehab stint with the Worcester Red Sox where he would play two games.

Overall, Rutschman got seven plate appearances across those two games, going just 1-for-5 with a double, two RBIs, two walks and a strikeout. Feeling he was ready, the team brought him up.

It made sense; he was their big trade deadline acquisition, and they wanted him in Boston as soon as possible to help them win games. But they had already seen what happened when they rushed Romy González back to the majors when they needed his offensive help. The results are rarely positive when that happens.

Rutschman was very much the same case. In his first game, the catcher would go 1-for-3 before going hitless in his next 14 at-bats, including eight strikeouts. His timing was off and it was clear he needed more time to be back to his usual self. After that 0-for-14 stretch, the catcher has begun to look like the player Boston traded for.

Going 5-for-14 over his next four games, Rutschman improved in all areas offensively as he only struck out once. Putting the ball in play more, his exit velocities have increased. Since the August 17 game against Arizona, Rutschman has 11 batted balls that have an exit velocity registered 90 mph or faster; of those, eight would be considered a hard-hit ball (95 mph or faster). In that span, he had 21 batted balls that were put in play, giving him a hard-hit rate of 38.1%. That's still down from his season average of 41.1%, but it shows improvement.

Unfortunately, they haven’t all landed in for hits as his batting average for balls in play is a very unlucky .179. Prior to the trade, it was .265. For context, the average BABIP in major league baseball hovers between .290 and .300. Per Fangraphs, a BABIP of .230 is considered atypical for a hitter. For his career prior to the 2026 season, Rutschman’s BABIP sat at .280. With such a low BABIP with Boston, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a positive regression back to the mean.

It isn’t what the Red Sox or their fans wanted immediately, but Rutschman is slowly getting back to the hitter everyone envisioned. The most important thing right now is patience. Yes, in a playoff race, patience is not something everyone has. But, given time, people will come to quickly forget the slow start to his tenure in Boston.