How good has Adley been? Here's how ...

This story was excerpted from Zachary Silver’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Every time Adley Rutschman steps on the field, he’s setting a career first, cozying up with Orioles legends or etching his name into the history books.

That was wholly true during Friday’s win over the Astros. Rutschman, in the fourth inning, allowed a passed ball. It was the first on his résumé after more than 680 innings behind the dish in his career. Only one catcher had more innings than him at the time without one.

Rutschman's response? A home run in the bottom of the frame that was ultimately the game-winning swing as part of a three-hit night. He reached base four times and fell a triple shy of the cycle.

Oh, and he caught his second consecutive shutout. And he stole a base.

“Every time he's back there, [he’s] a game-changing player,” said starter Dean Kremer, moments after Rutschman guided him to his first career shutout. “He's improved tremendously in calling pitches and understanding how guys like to pitch and scouting reports and kind of blending it all together. And then the offense came up huge.”

Rutschman may very well miss out on Rookie of the Year honors to Seattle's Julio Rodríguez, given the latter's more impressive numbers overall, his advantage in games played and his team's success. But Rutschman appears primed for a near shoe-in at runner-up.

No matter the unfolding, he’s showcased what a dynamic, well-rounded and, in Kremer’s words, “game-changing player” he can be this season.

Rutschman also doubled on Friday, giving him 32 in his rookie season. That tied Cal Ripken Jr. for the O’s rookie record. Ripken did it in 149 games; Rutschman, just 102.

“He's a special kid,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said this week, “and going to be a really good player.”

Rutschman already is. In the AL/NL landscape writ large, he’s one of just five catchers to have amassed a 5.0 bWAR season as a rookie, something that was never accomplished by potential Hall of Famers Buster Posey -- his childhood idol -- Joe Mauer or Yadier Molina.

This is the finest season by a rookie catcher since Mike Piazza in 1993.

Entering play on Sunday, Rutschman’s .412 on-base percentage since the All-Star break ranks fifth in baseball. That’s ahead of Juan Soto and behind only Eloy Jiménez, Yordan Alvarez, Freddie Freeman and Aaron Judge.

And here’s one more stat I love, with a hat-tip to Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun: Rutschman, at 103 games played, cannot finish the season with more than 115 games given the schedule. He’s still hit a trio of impressive plateaus nonetheless: more than 10 homers, 30 doubles and 55 walks. The list of other players since 2000 to do that in any season with fewer than 115 games played -- not just rookies -- is staggering:

Paul Goldschmidt (2014)
Mauer (2013)
Joey Votto (2012)
David Ortiz (2008)
Chipper Jones (2005)
J.T. Snow (2004)
Milton Bradley (2003)

Not convinced by the individual accolades? Consider team success, then. The Orioles entered Sunday at 56-42 in games started by Rutschman, a .571 win percentage that would have them on pace for over 92 wins across a full season.

Catching back-to-back shutouts against the Astros this week -- his 10th and 11th caught to sit tied for third in baseball -- was more weighted towards the norm, not the exception. Rutschman has been here, and he’s fully arrived.

“It's really impressive and can't be understated, one, how hard that is and how good he is back there,” Hyde said. “And the biggest thing to me, and I keep saying the word, is he cares. He cares about what's happening on the mound. He cares about putting up a zero. It's very authentic, and you see it."

“I told him it's not supposed to be that easy, honestly,” Hyde later added. “You're making it look too easy to catch the way he's doing it.”