Orioles minor league report: Samuel Basallo to join Jackson Holliday, Bryce Harper on exclusive list

This isn’t normal.

For the second straight season, the Orioles have promoted a player in his age-19 season to Triple-A. In early September, after Samuel Basallo accrues about a week’s worth of Triple-A plate appearances, he’ll join an illustrious club — one that Jackson Holliday became a member of a year ago.

Basallo will soon become only the sixth top prospect since 2006 to reach Triple-A by his age-19 season and total at least 25 plate appearances there, according to FanGraphs. Before they became big leaguers and household names, Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ozzie Albies achieved what Basallo is about to and what Holliday did last year .

Basallo, the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect, was officially promoted to Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday, continuing the catcher’s impressive rise through Baltimore’s farm system. About 16 months ago, the Dominican Republic native was beginning his first year of full-season ball with Low-A Delmarva. This week, he’ll begin his pursuit of a big-league call-up, which could realistically come next season. Each player on this list either debuted in the majors the year they reached Triple-A or the following one.

Since 2006, the year in which FanGraphs’ data begins, 19-year-old Harper was the first player to achieve the feat when in 2012 he played 21 games in Triple-A before joining the Washington Nationals. Harper and Holliday are the only players on this list to be drafted, each with the No. 1 selection — the former in 2010, the latter in 2022 .

Basallo’s timeline is similar to those of his international counterparts. Acuña, Guerrero and Albies were also signed as international free agents and zoomed through the minors.

In 2017, Acuña hit .325 with an .896 OPS in his age-19 season to reach Triple-A, and the outfielder made his MLB debut with the Atlanta Braves the following year. Guerrero crushed Double- and Triple-A pitching to the tune of a 1.073 OPS in 2018 to earn his promotion to Triple-A. The Toronto Blue Jays called him up the next season. In Albies’ age-19 season, the shortstop hit .292 with a .778 OPS between the minors’ top two levels before debuting for the Braves the following year.

Three other low-level prospects — Yeyson Yrizarri, Robert Perez Jr. Luis Vázquez — also achieved the feat, but they were not inside their teams’ top 10 prospect lists at the time and all were returned to the lower minors in subsequent seasons.

The Orioles signed a 16-year-old Basallo for a then-franchise-record $1.3 million international signing bonus in January 2021 — the headliner of the first major investment by the Mike Elias regime after decades of the organization largely passing over the Latin American market. In 2023, Basallo jumped from Low-A to Double-A in his first year of full-season ball. His 1.131 OPS in High-A was by far the best of any player in his age-18 season at the level since at least 2006 — ahead of Mike Trout (.821 in 2014) and Guerrero (.944 in 2017).

This year, Basallo overcame multiple injuries to hit .289 with an .820 OPS in 106 games, tallying 22 doubles, 16 homers and 55 RBIs. He split time between catcher and first base, and while the organization says it believes in his defense, his elite production at the plate could move him out from behind it. Basallo turned 20 earlier this month, but age seasons in baseball are determined by how old the player is on July 1, thus 2024 is his age-19 campaign.

Baseball America ranks Basallo as the sport’s No. 17 prospect, and MLB Pipeline has him at No. 11. But FanGraphs’ top 100 list is even more bullish on Basallo, ranking the backstop at No. 3 — behind only Holliday and Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero. Holliday and Caminero are both expected to graduate from such status in the coming weeks, potentially giving the Orioles another No. 1 prospect by at least one major list’s estimation.

Elias perhaps had the opportunity to trade Basallo at the deadline, but he instead held on to his prized power hitter. In July, Elias said he views Basallo as a future “middle-of-the-order bat” — one that could slot in as a first baseman-designated hitter or as a catcher, forming a duo with Adley Rutschman.

“This kid is a pretty special talent,” Elias said.

But Basallo isn’t the only talented player in Baltimore’s farm system. That’s why each week, The Baltimore Sun breaks down five of the top performers in the Orioles’ prospect ranks and hand out some superlatives for those who didn’t make that cut.

1. Double-A Bowie catcher-first baseman Creed Willems

Basallo wasn’t the only Orioles catching prospect to earn a promotion Tuesday. Willems, the No. 3 catcher in the Orioles’ system, is replacing Basallo in Bowie after hitting 13 homers and posting a .788 OPS with High-A Aberdeen. The 2021 eighth-round pick returned from a hamstring injury earlier this month and picked up where he left off. Over his past 13 games, Willems slashed .275/.420/.475 — good for an .895 OPS.

2. Double-A Bowie right-hander Cameron Weston

Weston’s 2.70 ERA across 90 frames between Aberdeen and Bowie ranks first among Orioles minor league pitchers with at least 65 innings pitched. Last week, the 2022 eighth-round draft pick delivered one of his best starts of the season, tossing five scoreless innings and striking out six while throwing a career-high 75 pitches. Weston didn’t open the season in Baltimore’s top 30, but his impressive campaign has since earned him a spot at No. 26.

3. Low-A Delmarva outfielder Austin Overn

Overn is one of four 2024 draftees to appear inside Baltimore’s top 30, coming in at No. 28 after the Orioles drafted him in the third round. The speedster has opened his professional career as expected, slashing .314/.435/.457 — good for an .892 OPS — in his first 10 games. Last week, the Southern California standout stole three bases in his first game and smacked four hits in his last.

4. Double-A Bowie outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr.

Overn’s combination of speed and defensive ability make him an intriguing prospect, but the Orioles have one who scouts rate even better in both those tools. Earlier this month, Bradfield, the club’s 2023 first-round pick, was promoted to Double-A after putting up solid, but not spectacular, numbers in High-A. In 11 games with the Baysox, the speedster has proved that was the right move , hitting .318 with an .878 OPS, walking more times (eight) than he’s struck out (seven), and swiping six bases.

5. Triple-A Norfolk right-hander Brandon Young

Young was seen as a potential option to start for the Orioles on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” if the club wanted to continue giving its starting pitchers extra rest. Baltimore instead went with Dean Kremer on regular rest, keeping Young with Norfolk to start Saturday and tie his career-high with 10 strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. The 2020 undrafted free agent is becoming a frequent fixture in this space, headlining it two weeks ago after Elias said Young was on the general manager’s “radar screen” for a big league call-up. The 26-year-old sports a 3.57 ERA and an impressive 31.3% strikeout rate between Bowie and Norfolk this year, a bounce-back one after missing most of the previous two because of injury.

The top prospect not featured so far

Coby Mayo, the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect and the 12th-best in baseball, returned to the field last week after Baltimore demoted him to Triple-A. The 22-year-old picked up where he left off, going 6-for-21 with a homer and a triple. Mayo played four games at third base and two at first as he continues to work on his defense.

International acquisition of the week

In his age-19 season, Leandro Arias began the year in rookie ball and is now putting up solid numbers in High-A. The Orioles signed Arias, a middle infielder ranked No. 23 on Baltimore’s farm, for $600,000 out of the Dominican Republic in January 2022. In two weeks with the IronBirds, Arias is hitting .297 with a .747 OPS.

Time to give a shoutout to …

Ryan Stafford was the second of four catchers Baltimore drafted in July, selecting the Cal Poly standout in the fifth round. In his first two weeks of professional ball, the 21-year-old is slashing .387/.512/.419 — good for a .931 OPS — with eight walks for Delmarva. He recorded his first three-hit game and smacked his first extra-base hit Sunday.

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Short-season snippets

The season for Baltimore’s rookie ball clubs ended Saturday when the Dominican Summer League Orioles Orange team lost in the third and deciding game of the quarterfinals. That DSL club ended the regular season 38-18 and was led by Jordan Sanchez (.333 average, 1.037 OPS) and Stiven Martínez (.278 average, .883 OPS). The Orioles signed Sanchez, 18, out of Cuba in December, while Martínez, the organization’s No. 20 prospect in his age-16 season, signed for $950,000 out of the Dominican Republic.

Farm files

• Nick Avila, a 27-year-old right-hander the Orioles claimed off waivers in June, was released by the club Monday after designating him for assignment last week. Avila, who made his MLB debut with the San Francisco Giants earlier this season, struggled in three outings with Norfolk, allowing nine hits and 10 runs in 1 1/3 innings.

• The first 2024 draftee to reach High-A is the last one the Orioles selected. Right-hander Evan Yates, the club’s 20th-round pick, made his professional debut Saturday, striking out five in two innings for the IronBirds. The Cal State Fullerton standout pitched this summer for the Frederick Keys in MLB’s Draft League.