The Boston Red Sox made the kind of move that changes the temperature of a clubhouse in a hurry, landing Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles in a deal that sent five prospects back the other way.
Baltimore gets catcher Carlos Narvaez plus four minor league prospects, including right-handers Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon. Eyanson has posted a 1.32 ERA across 16 Double-A starts, while Witherspoon was Boston’s first-round pick in 2025. The Orioles also picked up 19-year-old outfielder Enddy Azocar and 18-year-old Harold Rivas, a Venezuelan native ranked as a top 20 prospect in Boston’s system.
For Boston, this is a clear push from a team that has gone from buried to dangerous. The Red Sox were once 10 games under .500, but now sit at 59-51, hold a wild card spot, and are coming off a sweep of the LA Dodgers.
Rutschman arrives with a strong season already on his resume despite a recent setback. The three-time All-Star has missed the last few weeks with wrist inflammation, but before landing on the IL he was hitting .251 and drawing praise for his elite defense behind the plate. That glove work helped power his third All-Star selection earlier this summer.
The expectation is that Boston will lean on him as its primary catcher. Connor Wong had been handling most of the work there over the last few months, and he could still get into the lineup because of his batting average and ability to play in the infield. Even so, Rutschman is viewed as a major upgrade, and once he’s fully healthy, the former national champion should be the one starting most nights.
Across his MLB career, Rutschman is batting .254 with 69 home runs and a .342 on-base percentage.
The price was steep, and Boston paid it. Eyanson and Witherspoon were the Red Sox’s No. 2 and No. 4 prospects, respectively, so this was no minor talent dump. Still, the Orioles clearly targeted upside in the return, adding two of Boston’s better young arms along with Azocar and Rivas.
Rutschman’s name already carries plenty of weight in Oregon State circles, and for good reason. Beaver fans will remember his 2018 run that helped OSU win the national championship, when he hit .408 with nine homers, set a program record with 102 hits and 83 RBIs as a sophomore, and earned College World Series Most Outstanding Player honors. He kept rolling in 2019, too, becoming a unanimous First-Team All-American, winning Pac-12 Player of the Year, and taking home the Golden Spikes Award, the Dick Howser Trophy, and the Buster Posey Award as the top catcher in Division I.
In Other News...
Former Beavers Are Making Their Mark All Over MLB
The latest run of major league highlights from former Oregon State players has been hard to miss. Matt Boyd and Drew Rasmussen each delivered seven-inning shutouts in recent games, a reminder of how much pitching talent has flowed through Corvallis and how quickly that Beaver pipeline can show up on a big league box score. Both arms have been especially sharp lately, with Boyd looking effective since returning from injury and Rasmussen building momentum over his last few starts.
The offensive side of the ledger has been just as busy, with Wade Meckler and Trevor Larnach each leaving the yard on solo homers over the weekend. Even beyond the power swings, former Beavers are stacking up meaningful contributions across MLB, from Boyds steady comeback to Rasmussens run of efficiency and Kwans notable jump at the plate since the All-Star break. It is the kind of spread-out success that keeps Oregon State fans checking scores all over the league. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon State Just Got An Early Reality Check In The New Pac-12
Boise State opened the preseason with the kind of respect that usually comes with a conference title run, landing as the favorite to win the first football season in the rebuilt Pac-12 in a media poll organized by Tyler King and filled out by multiple voters. Fresno State came in third, which gives the top of the league a familiar feel, but Oregon States placement at eighth is the number that stands out most for a program trying to navigate a brand-new landscape.
For the Beavers, it is an early reminder that reputation alone will not carry much weight in this version of the league. The poll does not decide anything on the field, of course, but it does offer a blunt snapshot of where Oregon State sits in the eyes of the conferences media watchers as the season approaches, and it leaves the Beavers with something to prove before the real standings ever take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon State Could Be The First Test Oklahoma State Can't Afford To Fail
Oklahoma States place in the preseason Coaches Poll did not come with much ceremony, but it did say something about where the Cowboys stand heading into the year. They landed in the others receiving votes group with 22 points, which put them unofficially 37th, and the poll also pegged them for a seventh-place finish in the Big 12. For a program that was last in the Coaches Poll during week five of 2024, when it checked in at No. 20, there is still plenty of work to do before anyone is talking about it as a league contender again.
The schedule does not offer much margin for easing in. Oklahoma State has ranked matchups ahead against Oregon, Houston and Texas Tech, the kind of stretch that can quickly shape how the season is viewed outside Stillwater. If the Cowboys are going to climb out of that middle tier and back into the conversation, they will need to treat every one of those games like a measuring stick, starting with the first chance to prove the poll wrong. [Read more 🡒]