Samuel Basallo's charge through the O's farm now takes him to Triple-A

Since he burst onto top 100 prospects lists during the 2023 season, O’s catching prospect Samuel Basallo became a marked man. Everyone knew his name and opponent pitchers worked hard to make their mark by getting him out.

He likes that actually.

“I embrace it. It’s a challenge and I like to compete. Guys fighting to get me out, I take that as a challenge. I look forward to the competition,” said Basallo, who we found out yesterday, is being promoted by the Orioles from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. This was from an interview in July, right before he played in the All-Star Futures Game representing the Orioles and Bowie Baysox.

Now, 12 days after he turned 20, Basallo will become the youngest player in Triple-A when he takes the field tomorrow with Norfolk at Jacksonville. He has 24 games left to show his stuff at the minor’s highest level.

Basallo’s first two pro seasons, in 2021 and 2022, were in short-season ball. He began last year at Low-A Delmarva and after 83 games there he moved to High-A Aberdeen. After just 27 games with the IronBirds, he ended last season with four games at Bowie.

Basallo, from the Dominican Republic, signed with the Orioles for $1.3 million on Jan. 15, 2021. That was the largest O’s bonus in that international class.

In 106 games for the Baysox this season he’s hit .289/.355/.465/.820 with 22 doubles, 16 homers and 55 RBIs.

Basallo leaves Bowie a hot-hitter, batting .363 with an OPS of .982 in 22 games this month. In the second half over 43 Bowie games, he has hit .303/.387/.484/.871.

With his three teams last year, Basallo hit 20 homers and posted a .953 OPS. But like some other top prospects to include Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday, he didn’t tear it up initially at Aberdeen. Basallo would call late last season a real learning experience.

Basallo went 2-for-26 (.077) his first seven games for the IronBirds early August last season.

“That first week was tough,” he recalled last September at Ripken Stadium with interpreting help from manager Roberto Mercado. “Tried to stay calm. That was the first time I actually struggled. But things did start to turn for me. The biggest thing was adjusting to this level. Been seeing a lot more off-speed pitches, so I had to work on staying in the zone and making sure I got good pitches to hit.”

Yeah, he sure figured it out.

From Aug. 9-Sept. 10, 2023 at Aberdeen he had a 20-game run batting .429, slugging .914 and with an OPS of 1.444. He homered eight times and hit six in his last seven Aberdeen games before ending with Bowie.

Hard work seems to come naturally for Basallo, a player described as very, very driven to be good by those around him.

“He wants to be the best,” said Mercado, who managed him last year with Aberdeen and this season with Bowie. “He puts a lot of pressure on himself sometimes and may not realize he’s a special player. Sometimes you have to bring him in and say, ‘Look at these numbers. Look at what you are doing.’ This is not normal, this is special.”

When Basallo was named to the Futures Game in July Mercado said: “The work he puts in day in and day out and how much passion he has for this game is awesome to see every day. It is a blessing to have him represent the organization in the Futures Game. It is one of the goals he wanted to reach. He deserved it and earned it.”

With Basallo moving up now to Triple-A, catcher Creed Willems is moving from High-A Aberdeen to Bowie.

Willems, age 21, played 82 games for the IronBirds, batting .238/.332/.456/.788 with 18 doubles, two triples, 13 homers and 51 RBIs. He produced an OPS of .921 in July and .895 in August. The O’s drafted him from the high school ranks in Aledo, Tex. in round eight of the 2021 MLB Draft. This year he has made 44 starts catching, 24 at first base and nine as the DH.

Willems is ranked as the Orioles' No. 24 prospect by MLBPipeline.com and No. 27 via Baseball America. 

So some nice upward movement on the farm for a couple of catching prospects. 

Now onto Los Angeles: With a 6-3 loss to Houston Sunday night, the O's split their four-game series with the AL West leader.

But during a series where the O's scored just 13 runs, they got seven on them on two huge swings with the bases loaded.

So there is still concern for the offense recently. In the last five games, three times the O's had three hits or less, getting only two last night. In those five games they scored 16 runs on 23 hits batting .151 with a .496 OPS as a team.

The Orioles are hitting just .172 with 33 runs the last nine games, scoring 3.7 runs per game in that span.

After heading to the West Coast, they open a three-game series at the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday night. At 78-53 (.595), the Dodgers hold the best record in the majors right now.

They have won six of seven, 12 of 16 and 15 of their last 21 games. They are 9-3, winning all four of their series against AL East teams.

It doesn't get easier for an O's team that is 1.5 games out of first now with 30 games left to play.  

Here is a look at Mercado and Basallo before the kid left for Triple-A right here. And here is a look at his last Double-A homer for the Baysox on Sunday.