Thursday, July 31

Welcome to another edition of the Orioles Beat newsletter. The O’s will play three more games vs. the Blue Jays over the next two days, followed by the Trade Deadline on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

BALTIMORE -- Every year, there are top prospects who Orioles fans are clamoring to see. They want the future stars to reach the big leagues for their first opportunities to shine.

In 2022, it was, “When will Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez get called up?”

In 2023, it was, “When will Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad get called up?”

In 2024, it was, “When will Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo get called up?”

Now, in 2025, it has often been, “When will Samuel Basallo get called up?”

The answer for Basallo: Not quite yet, but potentially soon.

“There’s a plan in place for him right now. You guys don’t know what it is, and we’re not going to tell you. But there’s definitely a plan in place,” interim manager Tony Mansolino quipped over the weekend. “[General manager] Mike [Elias] is thinking about him every day. Our front office is really smart. There’s a lot that goes into those decisions.

“We talked earlier in the year about knocking the door down. It feels like he’s starting to do that in a lot of ways.”

Basallo (the Orioles’ top prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 9 overall) missed the first six games of Triple-A Norfolk’s second half due to right oblique discomfort. The 20-year-old Dominican catcher returned last Friday in emphatic fashion, going 5-for-5 with two doubles, one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored at Lehigh Valley.

After going 1-for-5 on Sunday, Basallo is batting .280 with 13 doubles, 20 homers, 50 RBIs and a 1.009 OPS over 64 games for Norfolk this season.

“The obvious is the box score, that’s the hitting. What you’re not seeing is the catching. There’s no catching in the box score, so that’s still a really important piece for us,” Mansolino said. “We’ve got to have catchers that are great catchers. They affect 13 [pitchers]. They affect the defense here. They affect the whole team every night.

“His development right now is probably mostly coming on the catching side. The bat’s probably ahead of that. But all reports are that the catching’s massively going up."

It became quite clear over the past month that Baltimore’s plan for Basallo never featured the potential for a big league callup prior to August. The O’s had four catchers on the injured list in early July (Rutschman, Gary Sánchez, Maverick Handley and Chadwick Tromp) and brought in two from outside the organization (Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson) rather than promote Basallo before they believed he was ready.

Perhaps the situation would have been different if the Orioles had been having success. But as they slid further out of postseason contention in recent weeks, they didn’t want Basallo’s first taste of The Show to come out of need instead of preparedness.

“You don’t want to make a callup decision around a prospect that important because of an emergency if you can avoid it,” Elias said in late June. “So that’s where that landed.”

At that time, Elias also reiterated he hopes Basallo becomes “part of the 2025 team.” It could be easier for that to happen in August or September.

The O’s are unlikely to make a push for the postseason. Also, their roster will likely have holes to fill on the position-player side coming out of Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. First baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn and center fielder Cedric Mullins (both left-handed hitters) are among the club’s top trade chips.

So there could soon be an opening for Basallo’s left-handed bat. He also can play first base -- where O’Hearn has spent a good bit of time in July -- though Ryan Mountcastle (right hamstring strain) should soon return from the injured list to join Mayo as options to start there.

Whenever it comes, Basallo’s arrival should be among the more exciting moments for Orioles fans down the stretch -- especially if his powerful bat immediately plays at the highest level.

According to a source, the following Orioles prospects are being promoted this week:

• Infielder Aron Estrada (O’s No. 18): High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Chesapeake

• Catcher Yasmil Bucce and infielder Elis Cuevas: Single-A Delmarva to High-A Aberdeen

• Outfielder Stiven Martinez (O’s No. 15) and catcher Andrew Tess: Florida Complex League to Single-A Delmarva

There’s no question Estrada is ready for the test of Double-A. The 20-year-old Venezuelan slashed .284/.369/.429 with 13 doubles, seven triples, five home runs and 40 RBIs over 81 games for Aberdeen -- numbers that are even more impressive considering many top Orioles prospects have often struggled to hit in the South Atlantic League in recent years.

Martinez may have the highest ceiling among this group of prospects. The Dominican, who turns 18 on Aug. 8, hit .217 with seven doubles, three triples, three home runs, 20 RBIs and a .730 OPS over 49 games in the Florida Complex League, his first taste of stateside ball.

In August, the Orioles will be introducing a new fan section at Camden Yards called “Cowser’s Corral,” in support of the outfielder for select games. Fans who buy special tickets in Sections 70 and 72 for those contests will receive an exclusive Cowser cow bucket hat.

Here are the dates:

Saturday, Aug. 9 vs. A’s

Sunday, Aug. 10 vs. A’s

Saturday, Aug. 23 vs. Astros

Sunday, Aug. 24 vs. Astros

Friday, Sept. 5 vs. Dodgers

Sunday, Sept. 7 vs. Dodgers

Friday, Sept. 19 vs. Yankees

More information (including how to buy Cowser’s Corral tickets) is available here.

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