Basallo's Bat And Mouth Make His Bosses Look Even More Foolish For Trying To Shame Him

Samuel Basallo took a pitch on the inner third from Padres starter Griffin Canning Friday night and expertly coiled his trunk to get his hands to the fastball and put a majestic jolt into it, pushing it just foul into the stands at Camden Yards.

Canning seemed to want to attack the same quadrant with his very next offering, hoping to fool Basallo with a change-up down and in he. Except he left it a little more over the plate than he’d like. and he hung it some and Basallo blasted it 390 feet to right-center for a two-run homer to put the Orioles up, 3-1, in the first inning.

It was another moment of brilliance from the 21-year-old wunderkind – a statement of intent and maturity at the plate from a young man who has handled himself with more class and grace than the rookie skipper who absurdly called him out for his lack of toughness last weekend. To say nothing of said manager’s fraudulent bosses in the front office who aren’t even manly enough or aware enough or, possibly, awake enough, to address the festering situation themselves.

(Recall that Notorious Alpha Mike Elias, baseball demagogue, wasn’t tough enough or man enough to meet the media when he fired his original puppet skipper last May, so consider whom Basallo is employed by in all of this, and how lucky they are to still have a job here.

This came at the same time novice manager Craig Albernaz and Elias and his minions were being coy and manipulative about the latest boo-boo for their former first-overall pick Adley Rutschman, 28, who can’t stay in the lineup himself despite finally crawling out of a season-and-a-half hole that made him among the least impactful and productive everyday-ish players in baseball.

Hats off the Basallo, when asked of any lingering discord between him am often-overwhelmed manager after Friday’s 7-3 win over the Padres. While still mastering the English language and already having to navigate a clubhouse that has been warped and underwhelming at such a young age, Basallo adjusted to questions he never should have had to face as quickly as he did that Canning change-up.

He did not acquiesce when asked about Day Six of Toughness-gate, while still taking a higher road than any of his bosses ever did.

“I don’t want to get into that,” Basallo said, sans interpreter, according to media reports from the clubhouse. “But it’s been fine. We are a team, so we are just focused on winning and whatever happened, happened.”

Who Provoked This Mess?

What happened of course was a silly man who is worse at his job in his maiden MLB season at the helm than Basallo is at his, sounding foolish and stubborn, yet again, then exacerbating the problem for a week by not backing off or apologizing or reframing his initial bizarre comments from, Sunday in Toronto in a more adroit and professional manner.

Instead, he stoked the issue through the week with more pablum to the media, and Rutschman’s hamstring still wouldn’t let him do much, apparently (certainly not catch) and both catchers sat the bench for some listless losses and whatever momentum the Orioles mustered on their previous homestand last month waned.

Albernaz got ripped nationally by former players – Albernaz, a catcher himself who couldn’t do anything close to what this 21-year old can already do, heard about it from within that fraternity for his misguided ramblings (check out "Foul Territory"). It reached such lows that Hall of Fame pitcher and all-time great broadcaster Jim Palmer had to weigh in from the booth before Elias could be bothered to do anything about a clearly festering situation that was entirely preventable from the get-go.

Basallo navigating plate appearances with runners on – a big problem for the veterans in this lineup whom the most is expected from - with such aplomb again while fighting through the “adversity” of his abdominal tweaks and the growth on his wrist – makes the small men he works for seem, somehow, even tinier. Because if anyone needs a scolding about “toughness” it’s Elias and his cronies, who would rather sink this team with self-inflicted errors like this, than do something about it or course-correct admit defeat on their litany of failures (Tyler O’Neill’s contract, pretending Trevor Rogers is something he’s not, putting together another coaching staff that is pathetic in improving fielding or base-running IQ or player development and lacks a human touch).

So let’s dispel of any myths about what’s going on with the catcher situation here, because if anyone needs to learn how to hit the post regularly and buck up and fight through adversity, it’s Rutschman, with just one year on his deal beyond this and won’t be an Oriole beyond 2027, at the latest. The years of babying him through an epic slump in every aspect of play – DHing their first draft pick in Game 1 of a playoff series, because not only could he not hit, but was clearly a far inferior backstop to James McCann, while everyone was ordered to keep stroking him in publicly … yeah that happened, but jumping Basallo two months into his career is The Elias Way now.

Just The Facts

Here’s reality – Basallo was asked to pay through the abdominal issue and catch and hit – while Adley’s precious hammy was quietly tended to without comment. The one who should be pushed was over-coddled and the jewel of the franchise who is signed long-term was shamed and scapegoated.

Here are some facts:

Rutschman hasn’t caught three days in a row in a month (May 11-13)

Rutschman has caught more than three days in a two twice all season despite being in better form than he’s been in for two years

Once, he’s caught four days in a row and once, five days, both early in the season

In what should be a make-or-break year for this franchise, all-in to finally win a playoff game in the Elias/Rutschman era, their 1-1 star is 18th in MLB in innings caught (337 2/3). Dillon Dingler (first pick in the second-round by Detroit in 2020 after Adley went first overall the year before) has caught 100 innings more than Rutschman already this season.

Rutschman has just 212 plate appearances and has appeared in just 50 games. Basallo has appeared in 58 and as the “rookie back-up catcher” has just five fewer plate appearances.

Rutschman has just three more plate appearances than outfielder Leody Taveras, who allegedly wasn’t supposed to make the team.

I’ll let you in on another secret they don’t want you to know – OPS since May 1 (once getting adjusted to starting an MLB season in the bigs for the first time):

Basallo - .827 (126 wRC+)

Rutschman - .737 (106 wRC+)

But Basallo’s availability and productivity is the problem here?

Basallo’s bat and words, hopefully, are enough to put an end to it. Though Albernaz’s mouth might have something to do with that. Whenever they get around to finally firing Elias, his owes this kid an apology.

One we already know will never come.

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