The Boston Red Sox acquired three-time All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, August 3, hours before Major League Baseball's 6 p.m. ET trade deadline. Boston also received catcher Jake Rogers and cash in the deal, ESPN reported.
Baltimore's return runs five deep. The headliner is right-hander Anthony Eyanson, Boston's No. 2 prospect and No. 49 on MLB Pipeline's Top 100. The Orioles also received right-hander Kyson Witherspoon (Boston's No. 4 prospect), outfielder Enddy Azocar (No. 5), catcher Carlos Narváez, and a player to be named later, MLB.com reported.
What Boston is getting
Rutschman, 28, was the first overall pick of the 2019 draft and has spent his entire career in Baltimore. He is hitting .251 in 2026 with 19 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 47 RBIs across 67 games, with 30 walks against 40 strikeouts and a 37.2% caught-stealing rate.
He is not available yet. Rutschman has been on the injured list since July 20 with left wrist inflammation and is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment this week, MLB.com reported. It is his third injury of the season, after left ankle inflammation in April and a concussion in June.
Rutschman carries a .764 OPS this season; Boston's catchers have combined for .615, a 149-point difference, CBS Sports noted. His career OPS is .756. He has one year of arbitration remaining and is not scheduled to reach free agency until 2028.
Boston entered the day 60-51, holding the second American League Wild Card spot and sitting five games back in the AL East. CBS Sports graded the trade an A for the Red Sox and reported that the Yankees also had interest in Rutschman.
What Baltimore got back
Eyanson is a 21-year-old third-round pick out of LSU carrying a 1.32 ERA across 68⅓ innings between High-A and Double-A. Witherspoon, also 21, was the No. 15 overall pick in 2025 out of Oklahoma and has a 4.78 ERA in High-A. Azocar is a 19-year-old outfielder with 18 home runs and a .540 slugging percentage between Single-A and High-A. Narváez gives Baltimore an immediate catcher in Rutschman's place.
CBS Sports graded Baltimore's side a C, noting the Orioles sold while sitting two and a half games out of a playoff spot. Rutschman debuted in 2022, and Baltimore won 192 games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, The Baltimore Banner reported.
The trade sends him to a division rival. It lands on a deadline day that has already moved a two-time Cy Young winner, with the Dodgers acquiring Tarik Skubal from Detroit, and follows the Astros sending Lance McCullers Jr. to Milwaukee in late July. The rest of Monday's slate is in our games to watch for August 3.
On the same August weekend, the White Sox retired Ozzie Guillén's No. 13, 21 years after he managed Chicago to the 2005 World Series.
Source: ESPN, MLB.com, and CBS Sports.
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