Orioles Extend Rookie Samuel Basallo to Eight-Year, $67-Million Contract
Rookie Samuel Basallo is only four games into his major league career, but he now owns one of the richest contracts among big-league catchers.
The 21-year-old catcher has reportedly agreed to an eight-year extension worth $67 million with the Baltimore Orioles, as Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner first reported Friday. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed the reported signing shortly afterwards.
Basallo’s new deal, which will begin next season, includes a club option in 2034 and can max out at $88.5 million with salary escalators, per Kostka. It becomes the largest pre-arbitration extension at the catching position in baseball history.
It’s also now the sixth-richest contract at that position, behind only Sean Murphy ($73 million), Salvador Perez ($82 million), Cal Raleigh ($105 million), J.T. Realmuto ($115.5 million) and Will Smith ($140 million).
Once official, Basallo’s extension will buy out the rest of his pre-arbitration years, three arbitration and two free agent – three if his club option is exercised. The rookie backstop is currently on a one-year deal worth $760,000, signed prior to this season.
The left-handed-hitting catcher – baseball’s No. 8 prospect per MLB Pipeline – went 1-for-4 with a single, two RBIs and a hit-by-pitch as the DH in his major league debut versus the Houston Astros on Aug. 17. In four games with Baltimore, he’s gone 4-for-14 (.286), collecting one extra-base hit and five RBIs while striking out once.
With Adley Rutschman now sidelined with an oblique strain, Basallo will receive an extended opportunity as the Orioles’ No. 1 backstop moving forward, while Alex Jackson serves as the club’s backup. He had previously made 20 starts at first base in the minors this season, creating an additional pathway to big-league playing time.
Basallo features exceptional raw power at the plate, breaking out with 20 home runs combined across three minor-league levels (Single-A, High-A, Double-A) in 2023. He followed that up with 19 bombs split between Double-A and Triple-A last season and clubbed 23 in 76 games at AAA before being called up last week.
But it’s not a boom-or-bust approach for one of the sport’s most highly touted prospects, as he also possesses remarkable plate discipline for his age. Prior to his recent call-up, he’d posted a 13.7 percent walk rate during his tenure in Norfolk, striking out less than 25 percent of the time.
That helped earn him a shiny 150 wRC+ (100 league average), the second-highest score among qualified Triple-A catchers, trailing only San Diego’s Luis Campusano (151).
If you can believe it, Basallo nearly signed with the New York Yankees before ultimately joining the Orioles organization.
The youngster had a handshake agreement with the Bronx Bombers as a teenager before the 2021 international signing period opened. But they could no longer honour that agreement after signing Gerrit Cole in free agency, costing the franchise $1 million in international signing bonus money for landing a qualified free agent as a luxury-tax-paying club.
As such, Basallo was ushered back out onto the open market, clearing a path for him to sign with Baltimore for $1.3 million. Now, after agreeing to a lucrative extension, he becomes the newest member of the organization’s foundational core for years to come.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Latinos En Pelota. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.