Orioles can breathe sigh of relief after recent Samuel Basallo update

As shared by Jake Rill of MLB.com on X, Basallo has revealed that his hand and wrist are feeling much better today. He will not be in the lineup today for the series finale against the Rays, but he is hoping to get back out there for Baltimore’s final regular-season series against the New York Yankees this weekend.

Avoiding any sort of serious injury is a major win for the young catcher, as he is an important piece of the puzzle moving forward for the Orioles. They think so highly of him that the two sides worked out an eight-year, $67 million extension days into his major league career.

Alas, Basallo certainly wishes he could have performed at a better clip through this point. He has a .176/.243/.353 slash line with four home runs and six doubles in 111 plate appearances. There has been some brutal luck involved, currently owning a .192 batting average on balls in play despite a hard-hit rate of 44.2%.

He is also swinging the bat as hard as anyone in the major leagues. His elite swing speed indicates that better production is on the horizon as well.

Despite a rocky start to his big league tenure, it is easy to see why the organization thinks so highly of him. Basallo raced through the minor leagues, getting promoted to The Show at 21 years and four days old.

This wasn’t a promotion just to keep fans entertained in a lost campaign, as the 21-year-old earned it with some stellar production along the way. Prodigious power was on display daily, along with the kind of skills that could make him an elite defensive catcher with a rocket for an arm.