Seth Johnson of the Baltimore Orioles poses for a portrait during the 2023 Baltimore Orioles Photo Day at Ed Smith Stadium on February 23, 2023 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Samuel Basallo, the No. 46 overall Major League Baseball prospect and No. 5 ranked prospect in the Baltimore Orioles organization according to MLBpipeline.com, was promoted from High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie on Sunday.
Basallo will be joined in Bowie by the No. 15 Orioles prospect according to MLBpipeline.com, pitcher Seth Johnson, who was also promoted from High-A Aberdeen.
Basallo stands at 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds, and has been with the Orioles organization since he signed v during the international signing period to on January 15, 2021, for $1.3 million at the age of 16.
This season, Basallo has started in 65 games defensively at catcher. He has caught 553 innings between Low-A Delmarva and High-A Aberdeen, recording 727 chances, 644 putouts, 71 assists, and 12 errors, and has thrown out 33% of runners attempting to steal.
At first base defensively this season, Basallo started in 27 games at both Class-A levels, and in 233 innings with 222 chances, he has 207 putouts, 10 assists, five errors, and has turned 22 double plays.
Basallo has appeared in 110 games this season, batting .307 with 467 plate appearances and 124 hits, 25 doubles, six triples, 20 home runs, 84 RBI, 12 stolen bases, 60 walks, and 93 strikeouts with a .945 OPS.
Last season, Basallo played at the complex level, and in 43 games batted .279 with 180 plate appearances and 44 hits, five doubles, six home runs, 32 RBI, 15 walks, and 37 strikeouts with a .744 OPS.
During Basallo’s first professional season in 2021, he played in the Dominican Summer League for 41 games and batted .239 with 32 hits, eight doubles, five home runs, 19 RBI, 19 walks, and 32 strikeouts.
The Bowie Baysox are in third place of the Eastern League Southwest Division at 34-29 in the second half of the season, and are three games behind the first place Richmond Flying Squirrels (37-26).
The Bowie Baysox will start their six-game road series against the last place (25-38) Harrisburg Senators on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. EDT streaming on MiLB.com paid subscription service.