BALTIMORE -- The Orioles’ coaching staff filed into the press conference room at Camden Yards shortly before 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Then, infielder Jordan Westburg arrived.
More players filled the room -- Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Coby Mayo and others. Interim manager Tony Mansolino joined the group as well.
Finally, the man of the hour showed up -- Samuel Basallo, fresh off signing an eight-year, $67 million extension with Baltimore on Friday. The 21-year-old was accompanied by family members, representatives from his agency and three of the most important members of the O’s organization -- vice president of international scouting and operations Koby Perez, general manager Mike Elias and owner David Rubenstein.
The room was packed for one of the most significant events for the Orioles’ franchise in quite some time.
For Elias, it was the first long-term extension given out during a tenure as GM that began in November 2018. For Perez, it was the culmination of years of building up a previously non-existent international program that has been headlined by Basallo, who signed for $1.3 million out of the Dominican Republic in ‘21.
For Rubenstein, it shows his ownership group -- which purchased the team prior to the 2024 season -- is willing to spend, as the 76-year-old private equity billionaire has previously stated he would.
And for Basallo, it’s a life-changing agreement for him and his family -- who lived in a small neighborhood in Santo Domingo during his childhood -- that also ensures he’ll be in Baltimore through at least the 2033 season (and perhaps ‘34).
“What I’m going to do is work really hard to make sure that I can do my part,” Basallo said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I know it’s a big responsibility. But I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that I make the people around me proud.”
It hasn’t even been a week since Basallo made his MLB debut. Last Sunday, the young catcher arrived in Houston and played his first big league game. Five days -- and only three games -- later, Basallo was signing the fourth-largest contract in Orioles history.
How did it happen so fast? Well, Elias and Basallo’s representatives began talks on the day of Basallo’s debut. The O’s have long known about the talent of their top prospect (MLB Pipeline’s No. 8 overall), considering they signed him when he was 16 and have watched him develop into a future star while climbing the Minor League ranks.
Elias knew this 6-foot-4 slugger was a player the club wanted to retain and build around for a long time.
“He’s going to be such a big part of our team. Look, these aren’t easy deals to line up,” Elias said. “We work very hard at this, and any time we think there’s an opportunity to line up and have it make sense for both parties, it’s something that we discuss and explore. It’s never easy to push deals across the finish line in this business, so we celebrate when that’s the case.
“We as a front office, as an ownership group and an organization, we’re always going to continue to look to make good investments, whether that’s trying to extend our own players or anything else that we do.”
As Elias spoke -- seated between Rubenstein and Basallo on the dais -- plenty of potential extension candidates sat looking back at him. Guys like Rutschman, Henderson, Holliday, Westburg, Cowser, Mayo and others compose the young core, and they’re players the Orioles may need for a long time if they hope to accomplish their goal of long-term sustained success.
The O’s know that’s the case, and they would like Basallo’s extension to be the first of many.
“The Orioles’ ownership group is fairly well capitalized, and we have the resources to do these kinds of deals. It takes two to do deals, but we thought this was a perfect one for the first one of this type,” Rubenstein said. “The best players the Orioles have had over the years historically have been homegrown. So Jim Palmer, his entire career was here. Brooks Robinson, entire career, here. Cal Ripken, entire career, here.
“We’ve had a tradition of having players who spent their entire career here, and we hope Samuel as well. We’ve got a lot of other talented people on the team who we hope will ultimately want to spend their entire career here, or spend long-term arrangements with us, and we’re committed to doing more of these as soon as we can.”
Rubenstein reiterated how the Orioles “hope we can have others like this at some point,” that his group and the front office are “going to work on that” and that they “hope to build the team to the point it is the best team in baseball.”
It surely was important for Baltimore’s players to hear the commitment from Elias and Rubenstein amid a season that has been quite challenging. The O’s entered Saturday at 59-69 in an injury-plagued campaign that is unlikely to feature a third straight postseason appearance.
But there have been bright spots, perhaps none bigger than Basallo’s new deal. The Orioles have now shown they’re willing to make these types of commitments, and similar press conferences could soon be held in the same room -- whether it’s in the near future or a bit further down the line.
As Holliday said Friday night, Baltimore’s young core enjoys playing together and “would love to for a long time.” And now, that group is set to be built around Basallo, who appreciated the support so early in his big league tenure.
“It feels really good and really special to have all my teammates here, coaches, trainers. I know I just got here, but having them here really does mean a lot to me,” Basallo said. “I think over the next eight years, we’re all going to try to do our best as a group to give everything that we have to try and win as much as possible.”