“Is Adley just an average player now, at best?” asked a Reddit forum back in April.

Ah, Reddit. The source of all wisdom. No but really, with a .197 average and six home runs over 80 games stretching back to 2024, our catcher was giving fans plenty of reason to ask. Rutschman, the post added, still resembled “2024 Adley,” a hitter with “little power and a pronounced upper cut as compared to when he first came up” and who as a backstop struggled to hold runners from stealing, 24th in all of MLB in throwing out runners stealing bases.

Cut to the present, as we head into the second week in August. How does that gloomy assessment look? Answer: like it was correct, then, and not quite as clear now.

Adley started the season apparently healthy, but he only hit .205 with five home runs and seve

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