Orioles Rookie Sam Basallo Might Play More 1B In September Than Ever Before

The Orioles have become notorious for utilizing the shortest of minor league rehab stints as possible. Even for some of their most precious cargo.

So seeing the O’s wait until very late in the afternoon Wednesday to release a lineup card and seeing the catcher, who just turned 22 and was clearly dealing with a shoulder problem for an extended period of time, back after just two outings at AA seemed very on brad for failed baseball boss Mike Elias. Nothing much ever changes around here.

The bigger takeaway is how much does the youngster catch this season the rest of the way?

Is the injury aggravated by throwing the way a catcher must, and will they lean even more in him at first base, with slugger Pete Alonso’s calf injury perhaps more impactful than the team is letting on – he continued to DH regularly since tweaking it running to first over the weekend in Tampa. With Elias wanting to get this team into the postseason to try to salvage something of another lost season – in the standings and most sadly in terms of player development – does he simply lean into having a veteran catcher behind the plate as much as possible (hence carrying three now before rosters even expand in September?

And, the reality is as much as Alonso has garnered Gold Glove consideration for his work at first base, Basallo is uncanny there himself and exceedingly adroit and accomplished at first despite not playing there much at all in MLB. Wednesday was just his second start of the season there and he made at least three eye catching plays that spoke to instincts and athleticism that is somewhat rare given the circumstances.

It makes you wonder if we don’t see more of this in the final month of the season than we ever have before with the youngster. Basalllo was a top three bat for this team before suffering his injury in late July and this lineup is pretty desperate (here is where he ranked in production at the time he got hurt).

The Manager Approved

Rookie skipper Craig Albernaz, totally overwhelmed by his first full season in the majors in ways Basallo has never been, is a former catcher who he seemed to get off on riding Basallo hard in public for some of his rudimentary issues back there (Elias only had him catch around 200 times in the minors). But Albernaz was gushing about his defensive work in Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Yankees.

Albernaz mentioned after the game that during one of his first conversations ever with Basallo during spring training, they were talking about catching while the big man took grounders at first base.

“I just asked him, ‘Do you need a lot of work at first or can you just go there and play?’” Albernaz explained. “And he just starts smiling and goes, he can just go there and play. He’s really athletic. He did a nice job today, a really nice job. Couple of nice diving plays, and that split on (third baseman Coby) Mayo’s play on (Austin) Wells’s bunt was pretty impressive.”

There are numerous fine lines a front office that has been a debacle with individualized plans and player development must straddle here. What’s best for Basallo’s body and what’s best for his present and his future? How much do their daily needs and the needs of others – like Alonso – impact their decisions with a rookie who should be the anchor of their lineup for a decade to come?

All of this would be better answered by a real front office with real winning experience and a real MLB skipper in 2027. This ownership group, however, might not be inclined to do the right thing. They need Alonso’s power bat to be real, and getting him off his feet in a season in which he has logged so many innings make sense; seeing Basallo at first at least 2-3 times a week makes sense.

This kid did things from a power standpoint, while catching, that no on under the age of 22 has ever managed at that position. Freeing him of some of that strain at the end of what's been a trying season for him physically, yet still ridiculously productive at the plate, seems in order.

Basallo immediately produced quality at bats despite the long layoff, driving a ball to deep center in his first plate appearance to aid a run-scoring inning and delivering a crisp base hit late in the game on a night when Baltimore’s bats were largely silent again.

His return is one of the most important factors for the entire franchise in September and men not known for understanding people and with no acumen for navigating sensitive situations had best find a way to get him regular swings in the middle of this lineup no matter what position is attached to it.

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