Sam Basallo, a catcher out of the Dominican Republic is the Baltimore Orioles No. 1 organizational prospect and No. 13 on MLBPipeline.com’s Top 100 list.
Basallo will start the 2025 season with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, and he is the No.1 catching prospect on MLBpipeline.com.
Basallo, 20, is a 6-foot-4 left-handed hitter from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and has been with the Orioles organization since signing during the 2021 International Signing Period for a $1.3 million bonus.
He played in 16 games in spring training and batted .226/.286/.484 with 36 plate appearances, seven hits, one triple, two home runs, eight RBI, two walks, and 11 strikeouts.
Basallo’s developed into an all-around hitter, and hit a three-run home run in Bradenton, Fla. at LECOM Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 111.3 mph exit velocity on March 10 off reliever Isaac Mattson.
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Basallo also hit a home run on February 27 that went over 500 feet at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla. off Toronto Blue Jays reliever Nick Fraze.
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Basallo split last season split between Double-A Bowie and Norfolk and played in 127 games, hitting .278 with 532 plate appearances, cracking 133 hits, 25 doubles, 19 home runs, 65 RBI, 10 stolen bases, 46 walks, 112 strikeouts, and a .790 OPS.
In 2024, he started in 45 games behind the dish for Bowie, with 392 innings under his belt, 478 chances, 429 putouts, 41 assists, eight errors, turning four double plays, a .983 fielding percentage, six passballs, and threw out 17 out of 45 runners on the base paths with a 27 caught fielding percentage before he was promoted to Norfolk on August 27.
With Norfolk, he appeared in 11 games and started in 10, through 91 innings, with 103 chances, 98 putouts, four errors, one assist, a .990 fielding percentage, two baseballs, and threw out one runner on the base paths from 12 attempts with an eight caught stealing percentage.
During his four seasons in the minors with Baltimore, Basallo played in the Dominican Summer League in 2021, the Florida Complex League in 2022, Low-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen, and Double-A Bowie in 2023, and Bowie and Norfolk in 2024 played in 325 games with a lifetime average of .286 in 1,349 plate appearances, smacking 340 hits, 64 doubles, seven triples, 50 home runs, 202 RBI, 24 stolen bases, 141 walks, 275 strikeouts, and a .841 OPS.
Basallo has started in 176 games with 183 appearances in four seasons at catcher over four minor league seasons, through 1,498 2/3 innings, with 1,867 chances, 1,658 putouts, 173 assists, 36 errors, turning 17 double plays, a .981 fielding percentage, 26 passballs, throwing out 99 runners out of 238 stolen base attempts and a 29 caught stealing percentage.
Adley Rutschman and Gary Sanchez will be the primary catchers for the Orioles to start the 2025 season, provided no injuries or any other specific issues occur.
The Norfolk Tides will open the 2025 Triple-A regular season at home on March 28 against the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays at 6:35 p.m. at Harbor Park and streamed with a paid subscription on the MiLB application or MLB.TV.
Photo: Baltimore Orioles pitcher Justin Armbruester (98) hugs catcher Samuel Basallo after warming up in the bullpen during spring training in Sarasota, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
