Orioles can't catch a break, as top prospect leaves Friday night's game with injury

You'll never believe it but the Orioles are once again dealing with the injury bug. In what seems like a never ending stream of bad injury news, catcher Samuel Basallo left Friday night's matchup against the Charlotte Checkers with what's been described as left hamstring discomfort.

The severity of the issue is not immediately clear but regardless, it's not a great sign. While his major league debut isn't imminent, it's possible that with a strong summer the Orioles could turn to Basallo later this year to give the roster a boost. If he has to miss significant time with a hamstring injury, that'll likely take any theoretical debut off the table. The Orioles surely want to make sure he's ready before sending him up to Baltimore.

Despite the hype coming into the year, Basallo had gotten off to a bit of a slow start in the early part of the Triple-A season. He's hit .211/.286/.526 with a pair of homers and a couple singles, and he's drawn two walks in his 21 plate appearances.

Orioles prospect Samuel Basallo dealing with a hamstring issue after leaving Friday night's matchup early

Basallo looked good during spring training, launching a couple moon shots down in Florida before being re-assigned to minor league camp and eventually back to Norfolk, where he finished the 2024 season. That said, he's still had very few opportunities against more advanced pitchers and at 20 years old, he should have a good bit of development left.

Most talent evaluators acknowledge that, and he's still quite young for the level. Even with the shortcomings, Basallo was ranked by MLB Pipeline as the 12th best prospect in the sport, and FanGraphs had him at number 5 overall. That's largely driven by his .289/.355/.465 slash line at Double-A Chesapeake last year, and the fact that he destroyed High-A Aberdeen during his time there in 2023.

We've seen the Orioles use Basallo both behind the plate and at first base. The latter was viewed as a potential means to get the young Dominican more opportunities at the plate. With Adley Rutschman entrenched in his catching role in Baltimore, the Orioles didn't want to pigeonhole themselves into using Basallo exclusively as a catcher. Thankfully Basallo is athletic enough to make the transition, and he played a strong first base in the minors last year. We'll have to wait to see how the Orioles handle Basallo on the defensive side when he returns.