The 2025 season has been forgettable for Baltimore Orioles fans.
Until Friday, that is.
The Orioles announced a contract extension with one of their homegrown stars for the first time under general manager Mike Elias.
Top prospect Samuel Basallo is finalizing an eight-year contract extension worth about $67 million, according to sources with the Orioles.
The contract is an MLB record deal for a pre-arbitration catcher.
The extension locks up the 6’4” catcher/first baseman, who was one of the first players to have started in the Orioles’ Dominican Academy, and rocketed through the club’s minor league system.
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Basallo made his Major League debut Sunday in Houston.
Basallo, in Triple-A Norfolk, smashed 23 home runs, many of which landed near the banks of the Elizabeth River, far beyond the outfield wall at Harbor Park.
I was able to interview Basallo before a Tides game about a month ago, and from the moment we shook hands, I was impressed.
His hand dwarfed mine, and the grip was impressive.
Since joining the O’s, he’s 4-for-14 in his first four games.
Monday night in Boston, Basallo drew praise for his work behind the plate, in Baltimore’s 6-3 win over the Red Sox. It was his first game as a catcher, as he was the designated hitter in his MLB debut.
Trevor Rogers, one of the hottest pitchers in baseball, collected the win on Monday, and had this to say afterward, of his work with Basallo: “I don’t think I had to shake off a pitch all night; he had command of the hitters, and that makes my job a lot easier.”
With the Orioles’ regular catcher, Adley Rutschman, on the 10-day injured list, Basallo is expected to get the run as the team’s everyday catcher.
OK, so why is this such a big deal for O’s fans?
First, it’s a tremendous shift in strategy for a franchise that has not re-signed one of its top stars since Adam Jones in 2012.
Second, perhaps most importantly, Orioles fans are now seeing that new owner David Rubenstein is backing up what he said when he acquired the team, just before the 2024 season.
Rubenstein assured Orioles fans that the club would invest in the players and the community.
I met Rubenstein early last season, and when I asked him how the Orioles would operate successfully in a small market, he had this to say: “I’ve spent my entire life in Baltimore; this is a great baseball town, you invest in this club, and everyone wins. You’re only a small market if you spend like a small market.”
Here’s another reason this is a big deal in Charm City.
The New York Yankees screwed up.
The Yankees had a deal with Basallo as an amateur before he was eligible to sign in 2021.
Then, the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole as a free agent, and Basallo was released and signed with the Orioles for $1.3 million.
Not to rub salt in the wound here, but Cole is out for the 2025 season, likely most of the 2026 season, after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Maybe Elias was right all along when he said that the analytics suggest that signing free-agent pitchers to long-term contracts isn’t a good idea.
The Yankees sign Cole, lose Basallo, and Baltimore winds up with a key player locked up for the next eight years.
When I was in Norfolk interviewing Basallo, I also had the opportunity to speak with Tides manager Tim Federowicz, and he may have provided me with a heads-up about the Basallo extension.
“It’s killing him (Basallo) not being in the lineup tonight”, said Federowicz, referring to Basallo being a late scratch with a sore rib.
I noticed that Basallo, despite not playing, was still in uniform, standing around the batting cage some two hours before game time, in 100-degree heat.
“If ever there’s a kid you lock up early in their careers, it’s Basallo,” added the Tides skipper.
Hum, wonder if David Rubenstein had the dugout bugged?
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