Catching carousel a dizzying development for Orioles

The intent wasn’t to create a baseball game show, with Orioles catchers spinning like a wheel through the season. It just happened over time.

They used seven in 2025 to set the franchise record. The 2022 Pirates are the last with eight.

David Bañuelos, an Orioles taxi squad catcher for what feels like the entire season, got into one game as the designated hitter. He doesn’t count.

Samuel Basallo was drilled on the right wrist by Pete Fairbanks’ 96.6 mph fastball leading off the ninth inning Wednesday night. Bañuelos might have gotten a shot. Or the Orioles could have brought back someone else. But X-rays were negative for a fracture and Basallo, who had the wrist taped yesterday, is expected to play this weekend in the Bronx.

Trevor Rogers was my first contestant this week in trying to name the seven catchers and how many he pitched to this season. I could have made it easier on myself by writing the names on an index card, but I worked from memory with Basallo, Adley Rutschman, Gary Sánchez, Alex Jackson, Maverick Handley, Jacob Stallings and Chadwick Tromp.

“Four? I think four,” Rogers said, unclear whether this was his final answer. “Mav, Gary, Adley. Oh wow, there’s more. OK, so Maverick, Adley, Jackson, Basallo, Stallings.”

“There’s also Chadwick Tromp,” I said, bending the rules.

“Chadwick, yeah,” he said. “So there’s six.”

Sound the imaginary buzzer. Rogers pitched to all seven, as he alluded to earlier: Basallo five times, Jackson four, Stallings three, Rutschman, Sánchez and Tromp twice and Handley once.

I’d allow Rogers to advance to the next round if it existed, since he recited all seven names.

“It’s definitely the most in a year for me,” Rogers said. “I know that we had a lot going through Miami at one point, but Stallings was mainly the guy back there. For one solid season, this was by far the most in a single year.”

Reliever Keegan Akin took his turn and nailed it. 

“I guess maybe six,” he said, lacking confidence in his response but getting it correct. Rutschman caught him 30 times, including yesterday, Jackson 12, Sánchez 10, Basallo six, Handley four and Tromp one. No Stallings.

Challenged to name the seven, Akin said, “Gary, Alex, Rutsch, Basallo. I’m trying to think who didn’t catch me. I think Stallings is the only one who didn’t catch my. Trompy and Mav. I think Stallings was the only one.

“He might have, but I think it was maybe six out of seven.”

Still got it right.

“It’s definitely different, but I don’t think I’m that hard to catch, honestly,” Akin said.

“It’s pretty simple. And I kind of know what I want to do most of the time. But yeah, it’s more weird when it’s a waiver wire transaction and he gets thrown into it not knowing, going blind and having to try to figure it out for the first time in a game. That’s definitely a little harder. But I feel like all of them are pretty good about coming into the bullpen and playing catch with guys pregame and stuff, just to see how the ball moves and how they throw.”

Rogers held the advantage over some other pitchers by having a few ex-teammates behind the plate.

“I got lucky because Jackson came over here, he caught me in Miami,” he said. “Stallings caught me in Miami. So I got really lucky in that regard. And then Maverick and Basallo, we spent some time together last year in Triple-A. So to be honest, I got really lucky with the catchers that came through here, knowing how I want to pitch.

“The only one who took some time was Gary, and in the short time that we worked together, he did a great job. Just communicating with them how I like to work and kind of let them do the rest.”

Rutschman and Basallo will form two-thirds of the catching group on Opening Day 2026 with the team expected to carry three. Jackson is out of options and the Orioles held onto him rather than reinstate Sánchez from the injured list.

Basallo has played in 29 games since the Orioles promoted their No. 1 prospect, and he’s batting .176 with six doubles, four home runs, 15 RBIs and a .596 OPS in 111 plate appearances. He’s delivered some clutch hits, two producing walk-off wins, but also is experiencing the grind that accompanies the jump from Triple-A to the majors.

“Continue to do what I’ve been doing my entire career,” he said through interpreter Brandon Quinones when asked what he’s learned. “Continue to work hard. Doing a couple different little things, and those little things are things that the game teaches you. So I’m looking to work on those things in the offseason, and trusting that things will get better going forward.”

There could be a different sense of offseason urgency for Basallo after making his debut at age 21.

“Yeah, I think you definitely have that motivation, but if anything, it even makes you want to work harder knowing that you got up here,” he said. “But you have to keep working to do even better going forward.”

* Five of the Orioles’ six walk-off wins have come this month, and Dylan Beavers’ tie-breaking home run yesterday in the bottom of the ninth inning allowed the Orioles to win a third consecutive season series against Tampa Bay for the first time since 2014-16.

“I don’t think I’ve been part of a team that had so much determination, even when we’re behind," Beavers said. "Close games, where every guy is trying to get the job done and no matter what the score is. We were down a good few runs today and nobody's mailing it in. We’re trying to win until the last pitch is thrown.”

Four of the six walk-offs have been produced by rookies Beavers and Basallo with two each.

The Orioles will finish with four winning months, including March (3-2). They went 16-11 in June, 13-12 in July and are 14-8 in September. Going a combined 18-34 in April and May killed their season.

They aren’t playing like the walking dead.

“I am proud how of how this thing has gone,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “When this thing happened, I wasn’t expecting it, and it felt like a 5,000 piece puzzle that was broken and all over the place and we had to put this thing back together. And I feel like we’ve done that in a lot of ways.

“Now, there’s more work to be done. We’re in some of these exit meetings, and some of the stuff that we’re doing, I’m trying to finish some of that off and trying to set guys up going into the offseason and going into next year the best that I can. So I don’t think the job’s finished yet. There’s a few more days of it.

“I am a little bit exhausted by it in some ways, just having some of the conversations that are being had and the responsibility of it, but I do know that it is part of the job and part of the responsibility. So just doing the best that I can to do that and hopefully this place next year moves forward and is back to what it should be.”

* Will Warren is listed as the Yankees' starter tonight versus Trevor Rogers, with Cam Schlittler Saturday and Luis Gil Sunday.

Warren's last start came at Camden Yards and he allowed one earned run and three total in 5 1/3 innings.