Former top prospect may force Orioles to make curious roster decision at catcher

The Baltimore Orioles will certainly carry at least two catchers on their Opening Day roster to begin the season in Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo. However, a third catcher may be forcing his way into the conversation as Sam Huff is off to a nice start in spring training.

The O's signed Huff as something of an insurance policy to have behind Rutschman and Basallo, just in case either got hurt. Baltimore has already dealt with a minor scare to Basallo down in Florida, so their catching situation is a little precarious right now.

Orioles may be forced to add Sam Huff to Opening Day roster as insurance

If the Orioles do indeed plan to use Basallo as a designated hitter this season, that could make things a little bit odd. What if Rutschman has to leave a game due to injury and the Orioles have to move Basallo to catcher. That could mean they end up forfeiting their DH by having him move to a position during a game.

The one surefire way to avoid a situation like that is to have another backup catcher on the roster just in case. That is where Huff comes in.

So far, Huff is off to a decent start at the plate in spring training. He has three hits in his first eleven at-bats, and those three hits were two doubles and a home run, so when he's putting it in play, he's hitting it hard so far. That's a good sign, even if it is just spring training.

Last season with the San Francisco Giants, Huff slashed .208/.259/.340 with two homers and four runs batted in across 20 games. The Giants placed him on waivers, but no teams wanted him, so he went to Triple-A, and his struggles at the plate did not improve much as he slashed .189/.282/.333 in 27 games.

The former top prospect debuted with the Texas Rangers back in 2020. Back then, he was seen as one of the top 100 prospects in baseball, but he has just never quite lived up to those expectations. He didn't do a whole lot with Texas across four seasons, but now he has another chance with Baltimore.

It would be risky for the Orioles to roll with three catchers on the Opening Day roster because obviously that would take a spot away from someone else and could limit the Orioles defensively on their bench.

Yet, it may be a risk worth taking to make sure they have enough depth at catcher, especially if Basallo does spend a lot of time as the DH.