Adley Rutschman’s return to the Orioles’ lineup Tuesday was a welcome one even before he marked the occasion with his first home run of the season.

Doing so after an injured list stint for ankle inflammation might be the latest sign the Rutschman of old is back.

Hours before the three-hit game two Fridays ago in which he rolled his ankle, Rutschman explained to me the difference in what we were seeing so far, which looks a lot like the version of the player who made All-Star Games in 2023 and 2024.

I felt missing this time might be an early challenge to his new offensive mindset. If he can pick up where he left off, which Tuesday showed is certainly possible, the onetime franchise cornerstone may once again be held in that esteem.

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“I think, just mechanically, I feel like just being in a good spot on my load, on my land, just like allows everything else in the swing to work comfortably — make good swing decisions, get barrel to ball more consistently,” Rutschman said. “There’s just a lot of work with the hitting coaches to kind of get to a spot where, when you step in the box, you feel comfortable, you feel like you’re able to relax, make good swing decisions and, when you get off your swing, you’re making good contact.”

We had this conversation after I tried, and failed, to articulate on the Banner Baseball Show what had led Rutschman to the success he’d had in the first two weeks of the season. Throughout his good spells and bad spells as a big leaguer, Rutschman has always controlled the strikeout and not whiffed too much, especially in the strike zone.

For whatever reason — be it injuries, swing changes or a combination of both — the quality of contact dipped drastically in the second half of 2024 and into 2025, and Rutschman’s power and overall production fell off.

In the context of the balance and simplified swing load he now boasts, he looks back at last year with the knowledge that “sometimes less is more,” noting he was “a little bit louder in the load” of his swing. That opened more room for error and at times left him less adjustable if he wasn’t on time with a particular pitch.

“If I’m in a good position, on time, and my body is, when I land, in a good spot — let’s say I get a changeup away, and I’m a little out in front, if I’m in a good spot when I land, I can extend out a little bit further to go the other way on a changeup. Whereas, if I’m maybe a little bit late, I’m stuck back here, I’ve got no length out in front to do that so I’m just spinning off quick,” he said. “There’s no length out in front. And I think you see the byproduct of that and it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of handsy, that swing,’ but mechanically, I’m allowing myself a position to be handsy to a pitch I’ve got feel on.”

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That’s why you’ll notice now that Rutschman looks as though he’s attacking the pitch that’s being thrown rather than simply trying to turn on everything. He often looked last year as if he was trying to generate as much torque as possible to drive the ball with every swing rather than using his ability to see pitches and put good swings on them.

The last game he played before the injury exemplified that. He went the other way for a double to left field on a fastball over the outer half in the first inning, turned on a cutter for a double to right field in his second at-bat, then stayed on a curveball back up the middle for a single the next time up. The length and time spent through the zone showed Tuesday when he got the barrel out to hit a fastball on the outer half to left-center field from the right side.

Before the injury, assistant hitting coach Brady North — who spent the last four years with the Tampa Bay Rays — said this was the Rutschman he saw in the first part of that span.

“Those first couple seasons, it was like, ‘Wow, this guy is dangerous,’” North said. “The last couple years we were watching like, ‘Man, something happened. Is it health or whatnot?’ This year, it just seems like Adley is Adley. The intent in his swing, the way he’s turning coming out of it, you can tell he’s really seeing the ball well and confident.”

Perhaps most meaningful for the Orioles, though, is not only that he took the time on the injured list to get himself healthy but that he maintained the swing he wants without playing every day. Part of keeping up his start, he said before any kind of layoff was on his mind, was “not trying to reinvent the wheel.

“You’re going to go through phases during the season, you’re on a hot skid, you’re on a cold skid, so for me, it’s ‘Hey, this is what we’re going for,’” Rutschman said. “Maybe you’re on a bad little skid, but we’re sticking with the same process, getting back to the same feel, and trusting that process as opposed to let’s make an actual swing change or something like that. So just liking your process and sticking with it, even through the good and bad.”