The sight of Samuel Basallo on his back at home plate, grimacing and clutching his right side, created waves of panic through a fanbase that can’t handle another key player going down with an injury. The scars from the 2025 season aren’t fading. They run deep.

They’re the Randy Moss of scars.   

Basallo sat up and remained in obvious pain Thursday afternoon as head athletic trainer Scott Barringer checked on him and minor league catcher Ethan Anderson began putting on his equipment in the dugout. Basallo exited with “right side abdominal discomfort,” which could have meant anything.

The mind immediately goes to oblique, which can linger for more than a month. The judges also would have accepted “intercoastal.”

We didn’t need as much time as anticipate to know the severity of the injury. Basallo told the assembled media yesterday in Sarasota that he felt fine, comparing the pain to cramping. He worked out on the field.

Let’s see how long he’s out of the lineup and whether he undergoes any testing. So far, he doesn’t have anything scheduled.

So far, it seems safe to exhale.  

“I didn’t feel anything grave,” he told the assembled media yesterday via interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Not an explosion of sorts.”

There wasn’t a violent collision. Basallo was hurt lunging to make the tag, either from stretching or the impact of his body hitting the ground. I feel similar cramping when bending over to tie my shoes.

Lost in all of this is how Basallo made an outstanding play to get the mitt on Matt Vierling. And how Tyler O’Neill made a sliding stop of the ball in right-center to begin the sequence.

“To me, he could have stayed in the game,” manager Craig Albernez told the assembled media Thursday, “but that was me being the voice of reason to get him out of there and make sure everything is fine.”

Albernaz recited the date, Feb. 26, one month before Opening Day on March 26.

“Completely precautionary just to get him out of the game,” he added.

This isn’t your ordinary backup catcher. It’s the top prospect in the organization and No. 8 overall by MLB Pipeline and No. 9 by Baseball America. He’s supposed to be a presence in the lineup behind the plate, at designated hitter or, gasp, if Pete Alonso isn’t starting at first base.

This isn’t Craig Tatum caddying for Matt Wieters. This isn’t Sal Fasano …

You get the idea.

The back-and-forth about whether the Orioles could break camp with three catchers momentarily was replaced by whether Sam Huff or Maverick Handley might have to fill in for Basallo.

I asked president of baseball operations Mike Elias earlier this week about the chances of carrying three catchers on Opening Day, and here’s his response:

“I think it’s a possibility.”

Hold on, there’s more.

“I think that this roster is not constructed with three catchers in mind,” Elias continued. “I think our overall hope and plan is for Adley (Rutschman) and Sam, if healthy, to be the main two catchers this year. But we’re mindful that both guys probably aren’t going to stay totally injury free all year. Nobody does. And there may be times when it makes sense for us to carry a third catcher just because those two players are good enough hitters to pinch-hit or designated hit or maybe even play first base, so it’s something that we’ll keep an eye on. But I wouldn’t say that’s a big theme in our thinking right now.”

So, to summarize, it seems unlikely to happen on March 26 but is a possibility later. Let’s revisit it as we inch closer to the opener.

The play at the plate Thursday was a reminder that catchers take a beating and are susceptible to injuries, though it took a while for Rutschman to succumb. He strained his left and right obliques last summer and made his first two trips to the IL.

Basallo reported to spring training in 2024 with a stress fracture in his right elbow. He dealt with elbow inflammation in the spring of ’25 and also missed three weeks with a hamstring strain and had some oblique discomfort.

Catching depth is especially important and the Orioles got an unwanted reminder last season by using a franchise-record seven: Rutschman, Basallo, Handley, Gary Sánchez, Jacob Stallings, Chadwick Tromp and Alex Jackson.

The first three remain in the organization. The last time we saw Tromp, he was taking a fastball to the ear flap with the Braves earlier this week at Ed Smith Stadium.

I’m much more interested in the next time that we see Basallo on the field, which could be this weekend. In the meantime, I’ll take it as a positive sign that he was walking around the bullpen area with a smile on his face later in Thursday’s game, rather than getting more treatment in the trainers’ room, and wore the equipment yesterday.