It’s time to take a moment to appreciate the heater that young catcher Samuel Basallo is on these days for High-A Aberdeen. Basallo is now a Top 100 prospect and in March in our second MASNSports.com rankings of Orioles international prospects, he was ranked No. 1 after coming in second on the list in 2022.
Basallo, who turned 19 last Sunday, was signed by the club for $1.3 million, their top bonus from the class of 2021. He then produced a .762 OPS in his first two pro seasons, playing 41 games in the Dominican Summer League in 2021 and 43 last year in the Florida Complex League.
From scouts, Basallo gets strong grades for both his big power and for his strong arm.
“He is going to mis-hit some homers, he is that strong,” said Koby Perez, the Orioles senior director of international scouting in a March interview for our international rankings series. “He may feel he popped it up or didn’t get it all, but it will go over some of these fences. His arm is also well above average, looks elite at times. He is still working on his blocking and overall concentration, but he should catch a whole lot this year and continue to grow at the position.”
Basallo started this year as the O’s No. 15 prospect via Baseball America and is now their No. 5 prospect in the team top 30 ranking and No. 48 in their Top 100. On the MLBPipeline.com list he moved from No. 12 preseason to No. 5 now in the team ranking and is No. 50 on their top 100 list. He’s flown up both boards.