Rutschman, Stowers are Orioles’ co-minor league players of year; Rodriguez top minor league pitcher; Mullins gets a rest

BALTIMORE—Triple-A Norfolk catcher Adley Rutschman and his Tides’ teammate, Kyle Stowers were named the Orioles’ top minor league players of the season. Bowie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was named the organization’s pitcher of the year.

Rutschman and Stowers, who share the award named after Orioles legend Brooks Robinson. According to Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, Rutschman is the top prospect in minor league baseball.

The overall top pick in the 2019 draft, Rutschman hit .271 with 18 home runs and 55 RBIs for Double-A Bowie before his promotion to Norfolk. With the Tides, Rutschman is hitting .321 with five home runs and 19 RBIs.

Stowers, who was chosen in the second round of the 2019 draft began the season with High-A Aberdeen, where he hit .275 with seven homers and 32 RBIs. He was promoted to Bowie where he hit .283 with 17 home runs and 42 RBIs. In 17 games with Norfolk, he’s hitting .297 with three home runs and nine RBIs.

Rodriguez, who was the Orioles top draft pick in 2018, wins the pitching award named for Jim Palmer. In five starts for Aberdeen, he was 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA. At Bowie, Rodriguez was 6-1 with a 2.60 ERA.

Bowie manager Buck Britton is the winner of the organization’s Player Development Award named for Cal Ripken Sr.

Britton, who won the award in 2019 with the Baysox, led Bowie to a 73-47 record. The Baysox lost in three straight games to Akron in the Double-A Northeast championship series.

Brandon Verley, an area scout, was named the team’s scout of the year. Verley, who scouted Rutschman is a longtime Orioles’ scout, who now works in Florida and Puerto Rico.

Notes: Cedric Mullins is not starting for a second straight game due to a sore hamstring. Mullins, who pinch hit on Saturday night, was sore during Friday’s game when he hit his 30^th home run, Hyde said. He’s available to pinch hit on Sunday. Manager Brandon Hyde said that he’s available off the bench, but he’d prefer to rest him and have him available for the series with Boston that begins on Tuesday. …Chris Ellis, who’s suffering from arm fatigue, may well be shut down for the rest of the season. “We’re talking about that right now,” Hyde said. Ellis exited Saturday night’s game after three innings. “We’ll see how he feels the next couple of days. It’s definitely a possibility,” Hyde said. …Bruce Zimmermann, Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells are the scheduled pitchers for the Red Sox series.