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Samuel Basallo on up to Triple-A. The Orioles’ top 100 catching prospect is being promoted to Norfolk after homering for Bowie today in his final game with the Double-A Baysox.

Basallo is ranked as the No. 11 prospect in baseball per MLBPipeline.com and No. 17 by Baseball America. He’s had a very solid year at Double-A that included an appearance in the All-Star Futures Game in July in Arington, Tex.

Now, in just his second year of full-season minor league ball, he is moving up again. He began last year at Low-A Delmarva, moved to High-A Aberdeen and ended 2023 with Bowie, hitting 20 homers with an OPS of .953 for those clubs. This year he takes the step from Double-A to Triple-A having turned 20 just 12 days ago.

In 106 Bowie games, Basallo has hit .289/.355/.465/.820 with 22 doubles, 16 homers and 55 RBIs. Basallo began this season as a DH-only with the Orioles in big league camp after suffering a stress fracture in his right elbow over the winter. He’s been catching since early this season. He has made 45 starts this season catching with a 27 percent caught stealing percentage, 27 starts at first base and 29 as DH.

He became the 14th Baysox player selected to play in the Futures Game, where he batted fourth for the American League team, going 0-for-1 with a walk.

This season he became the ninth teenager to reach 10 homers in a season at Double-A since 2005.

He leaves Bowie swinging a hot bat. He is hitting .355 with a .946 OPS in 21 games this month. In the second-half, he’s batting .298/.386/.464/.850.

Basallo has been the shining star of a very improved O’s international program. From Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he got the highest signing bonus of any Oriole, for $1.3 million, in their international signing class from January of 2021.

Basallo hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs for Bowie versus Erie today. In that six-game series this week, he went 8-for-19 (.421) with three doubles, a homer, six RBIs, six walks and three strikeouts.

Basallo is a fast riser in prospect rankings when you consider he was the O’s No. 15 team prospect heading into the 2023 season and now he is considered in that range in the national top 100.

His first two seasons of 2021 and 2022, were spent in short-season ball. Now over his last two he has made the jump from Delmarva to Norfolk, which plays Tuesday at Jacksonville. The Tides have 24 games left in the regular season.