{"id":11580698,"date":"2025-07-26T17:34:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T21:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11580698"},"modified":"2025-07-27T15:13:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T19:13:51","slug":"orioles-prospects-samuel-basallo-mlb-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/26\/orioles-prospects-samuel-basallo-mlb-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"When will Samuel Basallo be promoted? Orioles have a \u2018plan in place.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samuel Basallo is performing better in Triple-A than every top Orioles prospect who came before him.<\/p>\n

Basallo on Friday went 5-for-5 with a home run for the Norfolk Tides \u2014 just the rising star’s<\/a> latest impressive performance. The 20-year-old catcher is hitting .282 with a whopping 1.020 OPS this season with 20 homers in 63 games.<\/p>\n

His .918 career OPS in Triple-A (which includes the 21 games he played there at the end of last season) is higher than the career marks of the other elite prospects in the Mike Elias era. Basallo, the top catching prospect in MLB<\/a>, is hitting better in Norfolk than Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo did when they were there.<\/p>\n

So, when will Baltimore promote him to the major leagues?<\/p>\n

Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino said Saturday before the ballclub\u2019s game against the Colorado Rockies that the organization has a \u201cplan in place\u201d for what the rest of Basallo\u2019s season could look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys don\u2019t know what it is, we\u2019re not going to tell you,\u201d Mansolino quipped. \u201cBut there\u2019s definitely a plan in place. Mike [Elias] is thinking about him every day. Our front office is really smart. There\u2019s a lot that goes into those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orioles (45-58) have spent the past month with near-historic catching injuries. At one point, they had four backstops on the injured list, including starter Adley Rutschman (oblique) and backups Gary S\u00e1nchez (knee) and Maverick Handley (wrist). Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson both joined the organization in the past five weeks and have since formed Baltimore\u2019s catching duo.<\/p>\n

Last month, Mansolino said that, in his mind, superstar prospects such as Basallo should not be promoted because there\u2019s a need, but rather once the organization deems they\u2019re ready in all aspects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you take a guy like Sammy Basallo and you bring him to the big leagues just because there\u2019s a need,\u201d Mansolino said in late June<\/a>. \u201cI think you bring a Sammy Basallo to the big leagues when he\u2019s destroyed Triple-A in all facets of the game \u2014 his at-bats, his defense, his everything. So when he destroys Triple-A and he knocks the door down, to me, then he becomes part of the conversation. I don\u2019t personally think you bring a guy to the big leagues with that type of profile until that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since those comments, Basallo has hit .327 with a 1.178 OPS in 17 games with more walks (12) than strikeouts (10). Those numbers and his overall stat line on the season suggest that Basallo, despite being 6 1\/2 years younger than the average Triple-A player, is too advanced a hitter for the level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked earlier in the year about knocking the door down, and it feels like he\u2019s starting to do that in a lot of ways,\u201d Mansolino said.<\/p>\n

While Basallo\u2019s offense is clearly ready for the next step, it\u2019s his defense that remains an unanswered question. The Dominican Republic native has spent only 213 innings behind the plate this season while splitting his time between catcher and first base.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you\u2019re not seeing is the catching. There\u2019s no catching in the box score, so that\u2019s still a really important piece for us,\u201d Mansolino said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have catchers that are great catchers. They affect 13 other guys, they affect the defense, they affect the whole team every night. His development right now is probably mostly coming on the catching side. The bat\u2019s probably ahead of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mansolino said reports from Norfolk manager Tim Federowicz and his coaching staff show improvement in Basallo\u2019s defense and his ability to manage a pitching staff \u2014 the latter part perhaps more important for his development than his framing or blocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll reports are that the catching is massively going up,\u201d Mansolino said. \u201cFederowicz down there in Triple-A, he\u2019s doing a great job with him. \u2026 He\u2019s teaching Sammy a lot. Mike has a plan in place. We\u2019ll figure that out here as we go, and we\u2019re really excited about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to remember that Basallo is only 20 years old. While Mansolino said that he can\u2019t comment on the youngster\u2019s \u201cmental game,\u201d the skipper did note that it\u2019s important for a young prospect to be ready for the challenges of being a big leaguer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, yeah, it\u2019s huge for every prospect, not just Sammy,\u201d Mansolino said. \u201cWatching what Jackson Holliday went through last year is a great example. If Jackson is not Jackson Holliday and doesn\u2019t have the stability he has at home with his dad and being raised in a major league clubhouse, with how Jackson was treated through the media and through everywhere else last year and how he was handled, he would not be where he\u2019s at today. Jackson\u2019s one of the unusual ones where things like that didn\u2019t faze him.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most players to be kind of brought up into the big leagues and go through the ringer, you\u2019ve got to be very careful. They\u2019ve got to be ready. Sammy might already be there. I just don\u2019t know him that well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2022, the Orioles have promoted nine top prospects \u2014 ranked on at least one top 100 list in their minor league career \u2014 whom Elias drafted. Those players averaged 92 games, 414 plate appearances and a .903 OPS in Triple-A before their promotion to the majors. Basallo has played 84 games with 344 plate appearances and a .918 OPS.<\/p>\n

Five of those prospects were promoted with fewer Triple-A plate appearances than Basallo: Rutschman (2022), Henderson (2022), Joey Ortiz (2023), Kjerstad (2023) and Jackson Holliday (2024). Some prospects \u2014 such as Westburg (2023) and Mayo (2024) \u2014 played a full season\u2019s worth of games in Norfolk before they got the call.<\/p>\n

However, it can\u2019t be ignored that there are potential organizational benefits to keeping Basallo in the minors<\/a> longer. Notably, if Basallo isn\u2019t promoted until late August or September (like Henderson in 2022), he would likely remain rookie eligible in 2026 and have the chance to earn the Orioles an extra draft pick if he wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award next season.<\/p>\n