The age can be easy to ignore.

Samuel Basallo played in his 33rd game yesterday, two more than his 2025 total after the Orioles promoted their top prospect on Aug. 17. He scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning after starting the rally with a 107 mph double.

The turnaround with Basallo is dizzying. He was batting .140/.234/.298 on April 18 but finished yesterday with a .270 average and .803 OPS.

Basallo is 9-for-21 during a six-game hitting streak and 12-for-33 (.364) this month. He’s slashing .397/.435/.638 (23-for-58) with six doubles, one triple, two home runs, 11 RBIs and eight runs in 17 games since April 20.

The work behind the plate was just as important yesterday, with Basallo holding onto the ball and making the tag in a hard collision with Carlos Cortes in the seventh inning.

“He definitely didn’t try to truck him,” said Chris Bassitt, who backed up home plate on the play, “or he probably would have lost that battle

The Yankees are starting two left-handers in the series that begins tonight, which probably moves Basallo to the bench. But he would provide a hot bat off the bench until he’s in the lineup Tuesday night against right-hander Will Warren.

“The talent and the tools are pretty undeniable. I mean, especially for a 21 year old,” said hitting coach Dustin Lind.

“I think a lot of people might forget that he’s supposed to be a college junior in this year’s draft and he’s up here making an impact for us in the big leagues. The youth and the tools are really exciting, obviously, and seeing him adjust to being at least a part-time catcher and working into greater catching responsibilities and being able to adjust to the league that’s adjusting to him, he’s done a great job.

“He’s got really high aptitude. We’re really, really excited about him. For him, it’s just managing the ups and downs of the season and being able to stabilize the pitching staff when he goes out to catch.”

*Heston Kjerstad will be in Akron Tuesday with Double-A Chesapeake, while Jackson Holliday is expected to rejoin Triple-A Norfolk in Charlotte.

They’re hoping that they can reconvene later on the major league club.

Holliday should get there first, having already started two other rehab assignments before encountering more discomfort in his right wrist and hand. Kjerstad began his first assignment on Saturday.

The setbacks with Holliday aren’t unusual after hamate bone surgery. He was able to do infield drills and take batting practice at Camden Yards without any issues, and he played third base yesterday with the Baysox.

“Each player responds differently to those surgical procedures and for him to have soreness and some lingering symptoms is not terribly uncommon, even though we’ve had other players who made it back in a shorter amount of time,” Lind said. “We feel really good about some of the treatments that he’s gotten over the last two weeks here and he’s reporting a lot more relief from his symptoms, and his swings have looked great. So he’s done a really nice job in the live BPs, he’s starting to get some more at-bats, and for him it’s gonna be getting the time on feet to be able to come out and play every single day like we need him to.

“We feel really confident about where he’s at. I like the progress that he’s made, especially in these last two weeks.”

*I interviewed Ken Singleton on Friday about his single-season Orioles record for walks and his high lifetime on-base percentage, and I tied it into Taylor Ward’s first season with the club. The 30-home run guy who’s hit only one but ranks among the major league leaders in walks and OBP. If anyone could appreciate Ward’s deep-count at-bats and keen eye, it’s the former Orioles right fielder and three-time All-Star.

Of course, Ward went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts that night – pretty much on brand for me. But he walked three times on Saturday, when the story ran, and drew two more yesterday. He saw nine pitches in the fifth inning.

Ward is the first Oriole to draw walks in his first 40 games with the club, and the first player in the majors since Arizona’s Adam Dunn in 2008. The 40 walks and .426 on-base percentage lead the majors.

“It’s kind of early season baseball a little bit,” Lind said. “You know, you kind of get those fluctuations, but he’s been really prepared. He’s been really keyed in on what he wants to do. The damage opportunities just haven’t really presented themselves yet. But he’s been really focused and the work he’s done has been awesome, so it’s really exciting to see that added to his skill set a little bit, with the understanding that there’s probably gonna be a lot more power on the way as we get down the road.”

*The Orioles are 0-9 against left-handed starters, batting .186/.263/.306, and they’ve got rematches coming up this week with Ryan Weathers and Max Fried.

Weathers allowed one earned run (three total) in five innings against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, and he was scratched from his last start with a viral infection. Fried wasn’t as sharp as usual, allowing three runs and six hits in 5 1/3, but New York executed a four-game sweep.

“We faced some pretty good lefty starters. We’ve had some tough ones, and so that tends to even itself out over the course of the year,” Lind said.

“We had similar struggles when I was in Philadelphia at times and it tends to even out over the course of the year. But the nice thing is, we’ll get to see a lot of these lefties a second and third time and we’ll be able to make adjustments based off the previous outings that we’ve had against them and kind of come up with new game plans.”