The Orioles could send a unique pair of representatives to the All-Star game

The Baltimore Orioles have the best catching tandem in baseball this year. Catchers who can hit are a rare commodity. The defensive rigors of the position make it very difficult for catchers to perform consistently at the plate. The great catchers can do it, but they're rare, and that's why they're valuable. Most teams don't have the luxury of having a catcher that they can trust behind the plate and can hit well enough to be in the top half of the batting order. The Orioles have two of them.

Coming into the season, it was a bit of a mystery as to what the Orioles could expect from either of their catchers. Adley Rutschman was coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons, and Samuel Basallo, as exciting as his debut was, hit .165 in his big league stint in 2025. Fans, analysts, and projection systems were optimistic about this catching duo, but a cloud of doubt hovered over them.

The Orioles' catching duo has proven to be the best in the league

They've cleared that cloud up now. Rutschman has fully bounced back both on offense and on defense. He has been the best defensive catcher in baseball by fielding run value and the best framer in the league this year. Along with all the value he's bringing on defense, he's also putting up a 126 wRC+ and has been one of the Orioles most reliable bats, hitting in the three hole.

The shape of Basallo's contributions has been a little different as he's a more offensively tilted player. He's slashing .267/.323/.487, and he's hot on the heels of Pete Alonso and Gunnar Henderson for the team lead in homers despite having almost 100 fewer PA. When he's in the lineup, he is the most dangerous bat that opposing pitchers have to worry about. It's been an incredibly impressive season for him so far, made only more impressive by the fact that he is just 21 years old.

Basallo's defensive metrics don't sing like Rutschman's, but he can play a "good enough" catcher so that the Orioles don't have to carry a third catcher on their active roster. When Rutschman hit the IL, Basallo caught nine of the 10 games the Orioles played, and the team didn't miss a beat. Even if OAA and some of the framing metrics don't love Basallo, the fact that he could do that and the Orioles didn't have to start Sam Huff or Maverick Handley is valuable.

With how well they're both playing, it wouldn't be surprising at all if they both made the All-Star team. Rutschman, with the numbers he's put up as the primary catcher, should be a shoo-in if not to start then to be the first alternate, but Basallo deserves consideration too. Looking at the wRC+ leaderboard for DHs, Basallo ranks fourth behind only Yordan Alvarez, Ben Rice, and Yandy Diaz.

Rice is much more of a first baseman, so really that means that Basallo is the third-best DH in the AL, plus he also catches when his team needs him, which is a lot more than what Alvarez and Diaz offer when they're not hitting.

Where the Orioles' record stands when the voting happens might make or break this case, but regardless of the results, both are deserving. It would be very cool if it happened.

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