SAN FRANCISCO -- Eons from now, someone might stumble across Samuel Basallo’s diary from August 2025 and assume it was created by a particularly imaginative AI bot.
• Aug. 13 -- Turned 21
• Aug. 17 -- Made his Major League debut
• Aug. 22 -- Signed an eight-year, $67 million extension
• Aug. 30 -- Hit his first big-league homer
Makes you wonder what September will be like for the Orioles' No. 1 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, who became the youngest catcher in Orioles/Browns franchise history (21 years, 17 days) to hit a home run, breaking the mark of Les Moss, who was a little over a year older than Basallo (22 years, 25 days) when he hit his first homer with the Browns on June 8, 1947.
Basallo’s fourth-inning homer against Tristan Beck came in a big game for Baltimore bats. In an 11-1 victory against the Giants that snapped a five-game losing streak, fellow rookie Jeremiah Jackson hit a two-run homer and a two-run double for his first four-RBI game. Ryan Mountcastle also hit a two-run homer and Jackson Holliday picked up an RBI triple.
All of that offense amounted to overkill for left-hander Trevor Rogers, who all but cemented his American League Pitcher of the Month Award for August. He allowed a single run in each of his six starts, yielding a 1.29 ERA over 42 innings, seven of which came on Saturday.
Rogers’ season ERA in 14 starts fell from 1.40 to 1.39, striking out five Giants while allowing just a first-inning solo homer to Willy Adames.
Amid all that, Basallo won the day with his first Major League home run, which followed 24 at Triple-A Norfolk this season and 73 overall in the Minors.
The home run came with a dash of déjà vu, and not the happy kind.
Basallo thought he had his first home in Houston on Aug. 17, only to watch right fielder Jesús Sánchez reach over the right-field wall and yank it back.
Saturday's homer was another potential fence-scraper, tipping off left fielder Heliot Ramos’ glove. Basallo stopped his trot at second base to make sure it was out.
Basallo remembered thinking, “Not again, please.”
“Thank God I got the first one,” Basallo added. “I hope [there are] many more to come.”
Baltimore interim manager Tony Mansolino was asked if someone needed to sit down with Basallo after signing the contract to make sure he doesn’t try to do too much under the weight of such a deal.
Mansolino responded that Orioles general manager Mike Elias is “a really smart guy.”
“He would not give that contract to a guy who needed somebody to sit down with him and make sure he doesn’t go overboard,” Mansolino said. “Sammy checks all the boxes, on the field and what we see between the lines.
“He’s an incredible kid. He’s well-rounded, he comes from great parents [and] a great family. He got that contract for more than just his skills on that field.”
Catching in the Major Leagues has a tougher learning curve than hitting. Basallo is not a polished big-league catcher, but Rogers estimated that the rookie called about 40 percent of the 92 pitches he threw on Saturday.
“It’s really impressive,” Rogers said. “In the pregame meeting, he had a lot of helpful insight just from being in the dugout and watching the game. You don’t really get that from a lot of 21-year-olds.”
As the Orioles showered, dressed and prepared to leave Oracle Park, a clubhouse attendant walked over to Basallo and handed him his retrieved home run ball in a plastic case. Asked what he planned to do with it, Basallo said, “I’m going to give it to my dad.”