Sam Basallo was back in the Orioles’ lineup Wednesday after a brief rehab assignment, and the more interesting question now is where Baltimore plans to use him the rest of September.
The 22-year-old catcher returned after just two games at Double-A, and the Orioles again waited until late in the afternoon to post their lineup card. Basallo, who has been dealing with a shoulder issue for an extended stretch, was in the lineup in a 3-1 loss to the Yankees and looked comfortable at first base, where he started for only the second time this season.
That matters because Baltimore may have a real decision to make. Catching can put extra stress on a shoulder, and with Pete Alonso nursing a calf injury, the Orioles could choose to keep Alonso at designated hitter more often while using Basallo at first base more regularly. Basallo has hardly played the position in the majors, but he handled it well Wednesday, showing the kind of athleticism that made the move look natural.
Craig Albernaz, in his first full season as a major league skipper, praised what he saw after the game. A former catcher himself, Albernaz said one of his first conversations with Basallo in spring training centered on first base.
“I just asked him, ‘Do you need a lot of work at first or can you just go there and play?’” Albernaz explained.
“And he just starts smiling and goes, he can just go there and play. He’s really athletic.
He did a nice job today, a really nice job. Couple of nice diving plays, and that split on (third baseman Coby) Mayo’s play on (Austin) Wells’s bunt was pretty impressive.”
Basallo made at least three eye-catching plays at first, including a pair of diving stops and the split Albernaz pointed to on Mayo’s play. He also gave Baltimore quality work with the bat right away, driving a ball to deep center in his first plate appearance to help set up a run-scoring inning, then adding a clean single later in the night while the Orioles’ offense stayed quiet.
Before the injury in late July, Basallo was one of the team’s three best bats, and the lineup badly needs him. The bigger issue is balancing what helps him now with what helps him later. Baltimore’s front office has already shown a tendency to use the shortest rehab paths possible, and the club now has three catchers on hand even before September roster expansion.
The Orioles have to decide how much catching Basallo can realistically handle down the stretch, whether first base becomes a regular part of the mix, and how to protect a player who should be central to their lineup for years to come. For now, the best answer may be the simplest one: get him regular swings somewhere in the middle of the order.
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