The Orioles’ rash of injuries at catcher have many clamoring to call up Baltimore’s top prospect.
On Sunday in the Bronx, the Orioles’ injury woes took another gut-wrenching turn when Maverick Handley collided with Jazz Chisholm Jr. after being pulled into the baseline by an errant throw. Injuries are nothing new for the Orioles; Handley is the 22nd different player to go on Baltimore’s IL and the third different catcher. What makes this injury different is the possible replacement that Mike Elias is, so far, declining to bring up.
Samuel Basallo is the last of the wave of Orioles super prospects that started in 2019 with Adley Rutschman. The soon-to-be 21-year-old out of the Dominican Republic is the first great success story of Elias’ commitment to making the O’s major players in the international free agent market. The imposing 6’4” catching prospect made his minor league debut at 18 and arrived in Triple-A two weeks after his 20th birthday.
Basallo is the gem that GMs look for when they dive into the potential gold mine of international free agency. His 60-grade power puts him on par with players like Gunnar Henderson, Coby Mayo and Heston Kjerstad as prospects. If Basallo reaches the upper limits of his potential, we could see him put up the type of home run numbers that we’re currently seeing from Cal Raleigh in Seattle. To say Basallo could become the best power-hitting lefty catcher of all time may feel like a stretch; it’s not.
Given Basallo’s nearly limitless potential and his strong numbers this season at Norfolk, many in Birdland are wondering why veteran journeyman Chadwick Tromp got the call to replace Handley instead of Basallo. The answer to that question is likely a combination of his age, the remaining holes in Basallo’s game, and a renewed reluctance to rush prospects to the majors.
At not yet 21 years old, Basallo has been the youngest player on every team he’s played with or against throughout his minor league journey. He’s so far followed a similar path through the minors as Jackson Holliday, debuting in Low-A at 18 and rising all the way to Triple-A by the time he was 19. However, Basallo was a much rawer prospect when he signed out the DR at 16 and without the added benefit of having a former major league All-Star as his father.
The young catcher’s slash line against Triple-A pitching is undoubtedly eye-popping. The Tides backstop is currently posting .271 average, .378 on-base percentage and a .590 slugging percentage. That .590 SLG would be the second-best in the International League if he had enough ABs to qualify.
However, his current numbers don’t tell the story of a player who struggled at the beginning of the year. Basallo had a .229 average through the month of April with a good but not great .486 slugging percentage. The power output ticked up in May, as Basallo launched six HRs to propel him to a .545 slugging percentage. However, his batting average lagged behind at .234 while he also struck out 28 times in 77 ABs (36%). It hasn’t been until this month, when Basallo is slashing .352/.435/.722, that we’ve seen the young Dominican phenom show his full skillset at the plate.
Basallo will likely never be a Joe-Mauer type catcher when it comes to batting average. However, he still needs to time to refine his approach at the plate so he’s not an all or nothing hitter who racks up a ton of strikeouts. Basallo is also still very early in his journey when it comes to refining the defensive side of being a catcher. His arm is already major league caliber, but his receiving and blocking skills would certainly benefit from more time in Triple-A.
There also have to be concerns about how an MLB adjustment period might affect his overall development. We’ve already seen Rutschman, Henderson, Colton Cowser, and Holliday struggle mightily when first exposed to major league pitching. Only Rutschman went through that adjustment while also adapting to catching in the bigs, and only Holliday did so before his 21st birthday.
Interrupting Basallo’s current hot streak at Triple-A to bring him up and be Gary Sánchez’s backup would almost certainly be bad for the young catcher’s development. Players who are this young, this talented, but still relatively raw usually only get better with consistent playing time—something the Orioles can’t guarantee Basallo.
You also have to question how much of a chance Basallo would have to earn a permanent roster spot. Adley should be back from his oblique strain in a month or less. Once he returns, there really isn’t a way to fit Rutschman, Sánchez, and Basallo on the roster—short of something drastic, like trading Ryan O’Hearn.
There’s no doubt that Basallo offers higher upside than Handley and Tromp. However, given the strides he still needs to make both offensively and defensively, calling him up to be the 26th man on a directionless team wouldn’t be good for his development.
The Orioles’ top prospect is on track to be a star in MLB, and that journey to big league stardom could still come later this season. But calling him up just to take a chance on a fleeting opportunity is not what this Orioles team or the player really needs.