There are big expectations for Baltimore backstop Samuel Basallo as he heads into his official rookie season. The 21-year-old out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, doesn\u2019t just represent the leader of a new wave of talent graduating from the Orioles\u2019 farm system. Basallo represents the first real fruits of an increased emphasis on developing talent through the international free agent market.<\/p>\n
Basallo signed with the Orioles in 2021 for a then-club record $1.3M signing bonus. After a relative sprint through the minors that saw him make his big league debut at 20, the now-No. 1 catching prospect in baseball showed flashes of his immense potential in 31 games last season. Highlights included a walk-off homer<\/a> against the eventual World Series champion Dodgers, another walk-off winner<\/a> four days later against the Pirates and a moonshot against the Yankees<\/a> for his final long ball of the year.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that the rookie didn\u2019t have his struggles. In the first 109 ABs of his career, Basallo posted a .165 average and .559 OPS and struggled with strikeouts. The 6\u20194\u201d catcher certainly faded down the stretch of his first major league cameo. Over his first 15 games, he posted a modest .204 average with a .660 OPS and 24% strikeout rate\u2014decent returns for a 20-year-old rookie. Over the following 16 games, that average dipped to .127, the OPS plummeted to .459 and his strikeout rate spiked to 31%.<\/p>\n One of the big tasks for Craig Albernaz and his staff will be getting Basallo to tap into his excellent tools on a more consistent basis. The big Dominican showed elite bad speed in his first month-plus in the big leagues; his 75.5mph average swing speed would rank top 20 in all of baseball and is on par with star SS Gunnar Henderson. If Basallo can start to make more consistent contact, that bat speed should lead to the hard hit rates and exit velocities that lead to the upper echelon power output we\u2019ve seen from Henderson.<\/p>\n The new manager will also have to figure out the best role for his young backstop in 2026. Injuries to Adley Rutschman and Gary S\u00e1nchez meant that Basallo spent a lot more time at catcher last season than most could have anticipated. Twenty of his 29 starts came behind the dish as Basallo quieted some of those who doubted his ability to provide major-league-caliber defense.<\/p>\n With S\u00e1nchez not brought back and Alex Jackson traded to the Twins, Basallo comes into the upcoming season as the undisputed backup to Rutschman. Given that Rutschman\u2019s OPS is over 100 points higher when he\u2019s DH\u2019ing instead of catching, and given Basallo\u2019s undeniable offensive upside, the Orioles may elect to rotate Rutschman and Basallo between catcher and DH while keeping both in the lineup. Basallo is also currently the Orioles\u2019 only left-handed-hitting 1B option, so he should see some starts to spell righties Pete Alonso, Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.<\/p>\n If a combination of Basallo\u2019s hard work, additional exposure to major league pitching and the benefits of the new coaching staff helps him take a leap, it\u2019ll represent a success on two fronts for the Orioles. A fully-realized Basallo (or close to it) can provide a similar offensive boost to new additions Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward. However, Basallo\u2019s success would also represent the first major success of Mike Elias\u2019 efforts to overhaul the Orioles approach in the international free agent market.<\/p>\n Under Elias\u2019 predecessor, Dan Duquette, the O\u2019s largely ignored international free agent prospects. Over Duquette\u2019s eight seasons at the helm (2011 \u2014 2018), Baltimore only had three former international free agent signings crack their top 10 prospects. Jonathan Schoop was a mainstay on the Orioles\u2019 top 10 prospect list from 2011 until his debut in 2013. Eduardo Rodriguez was the Orioles\u2019 No. 3 prospect when they flipped him for reliever Andrew Miller at the 2014 trade deadline. However, both of those players also predated Duquette, with Schoop signing out of Cura\u00e7ao in 2008 and Rodr\u00edguez signing out of Venezuela in 2010.<\/p>\n The only player Duquette signed that ever cracked the Orioles\u2019 top 10 prospects was infielder Jomar Reyes. Signed out of the Dominican Republic, Reyes rose as high as the Orioles\u2019 No. 3 prospect in 2016. Injuries and inconsistent performance then derailed his progress through the minors, ultimately leading to his release in 2020. Reyes\u2019 failure to launch was an example of Duquette\u2019s approach to developing foreign talent. While teams like the Astros, Dodgers and Braves were using the international free agent market to propel them to World Series titles, the Orioles fell further and further behind competitive organizations.<\/p>\n Since Elias took charge, the organization has done a complete 180 in the international market. The O\u2019s have committed major resources to revamping their international scouting, opened a state-of-the-art academy in the Dominican Republic and continue to sign more and more top international prospects. Baltimore\u2019s most recent class<\/a> featured five players in MLB.com\u2019s Top 50 international prospects, 10 total signings and saw the Orioles hand out a club-record $2.3M signing bonus to Dominican shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to say what impact Basallo\u2019s ascension to the big leagues and subsequent contract extension had on the most recent class of international free agents, but it couldn\u2019t have hurt. Should the Orioles\u2019 No. 1 prospect reward the front office\u2019s faith in him, it would be a signal to other budding stars in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and beyond that Baltimore is now a serious player when it comes to developing premier international talent.<\/p>\n