With spring training rolling along for the Baltimore Orioles, the team is seeking to improve and get ready for the start of a new campaign.
Spring training is generally an exciting time. Due to the team being excellent at drafting and developing players, seeing some of the top prospects mixing it up with veterans is always enjoyable.
They seemingly have an impact prospect or two coming up every year, and this one is no different.
The lineup for the Orioles is certainly their strength, and despite losing their leading home run hitter in free agency, there doesn’t seem to be much concern about being able to replace that production.
With a couple of elite prospects in the system, one of them has been very impressive so far during spring training.
Jake Rill of MLB.com recently spoke about one prospect in particular making an early impression for Baltimore, and that is Samuel Basallo.
As one of the best hitter prospects in all of baseball and the best prospect in the Orioles’ system, there is a lot to like about Basallo. The left-handed swinging talent can play both first base and catcher, which is important when the time comes to be called up.
Currently in spring training, he has really been performing well, slashing .429/.375/.857 with a home run in five games.
The 20-year-old has been working his way through the system since 2023, and he performed quite well last year with a .278/.341/.449 slash line, 19 home runs and 65 RBI in 127 games.
Putting up those types of numbers, especially the power, is impressive and makes it easy to understand why he has been regarded as one of the best prospects in baseball.
While Basallo’s call-up might not be until either the end of 2025 or the start of 2026, what position he will playing in the bigs is the question mark.
Due to all the talent in the lineup, there isn’t an easy place to say where he will be playing every day.
At catcher Adley Rutschman is one of the best in the game, making it unlikely that he gets many reps there. First base might be the more logical place for him moving forward. Even though they have options at the position led by Ryan Mountcastle, Basallo might be the type of player that can win the job sooner rather than later.
Overall, it is a great problem to have for Baltimore, and the franchise will be hoping that he continues to perform well in spring training.
