With Adley Rutschman on the injured list for at least a month and the Orioles #1 prospect being Samuel Basallo, currently a catcher who is hitting very well at Triple-A, there are plenty of people who have concluded that the obvious solution for the duration of Rutschman’s absence is to call up Basallo and have him get his big league career started.
While this is an understandable knee-jerk reaction, it’s also misguided, which my Camden Chat colleague John Beers laid out yesterday. Among the important things to keep in mind is that Basallo still has learning to do behind the plate; he’s only caught 17 games all season after not catching a full load last season either. As a 20-year-old, he might have a harder adjustment than most to the MLB level in general. That means that as a one-month fill-in for Rutschman, he might not even do what people are hoping and somehow save the season.
It doesn’t matter what any of us think so much as what Mike Elias thinks. Elias is not the kind of guy who’s going to be aggressive about such a young prospect getting promoted at this juncture. Perhaps he’d be more likely to consider it if the Orioles were somehow six or seven wins better than they are, more in the thick of the wild card race with longshot hopes of running down the division title, rather than barely even in the wild card picture. That’s just not how it is, as last night’s O’s loss reminded us yet again.
For this week’s poll, consider the question of when we will end up seeing Basallo make his MLB debut for the Orioles. What month is that going to happen?
Poll
What month will we see Samuel Basallo debut this year?
28%
Not happening in 2025
(43 votes)
152 votes total
If the Orioles end up playing well over the month of July, the idea of seeing Basallo in August becomes much more interesting. That would end up being similar to the path taken in 2012, when the Orioles called up Manny Machado to solidify the third base position rather than trade for some dope like Chase Headley, who some pundits wanted the team to acquire at the time.
Rutschman being out for longer than the current hope of roughly four weeks would be another point in favor of bringing up Basallo following the trade deadline. Or even if he’s back, it might be better to see Basallo than Gary Sánchez at that point.
For me, the September case is much clearer, because that’s what the incentive structure points to. With Basallo being such a talented young player, the Orioles should consider that he might be able to be a Rookie of the Year contender in 2026, which would mean the team gets a bonus draft pick the next year.
This would follow the pattern the Orioles used with Gunnar Henderson, who joined the team late in 2022, enough to get a taste of MLB. Henderson’s rookie eligibility was preserved into 2023 and he went on to win the ROY. We can all hope that Basallo is able to follow in those footsteps.
Last week’s poll asked you whether Grayson Rodriguez will pitch for the Orioles this year. Although both interim manager Tony Mansolino and Rodriguez himself are optimistic, readers aren’t buying it, with people voting no by a 69-31 margin. I’ll be disappointed if Rodriguez never gets back on the mound, but not surprised. I remain unenthused about the fact that they haven’t even identified what’s causing his recurring lat issues.