Other Teams Calling About Baltimore Orioles' Superstar Prospect
Much of the attention surrounding the Baltimore Orioles is about their willingness to add another player, preferably an ace starting pitcher, this offseason.
With a loaded roster full of young talent, the glaring hole is at the top of their rotation.
Dylan Cease, Corbin Burnes, and to a lesser extent, Shane Bieber have all been floated as possibilities for the Orioles to land the ace of their staff.
However, nothing has come of this yet.
As the front office continues to navigate their offseason strategy, it was reported by Roch Kubatko of MASN that other teams have inquired about the potential availability of their superstar prospect.
"Teams are checking on the availability of 19-year-old catcher Samuel Basallo. However, executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias doesn’t seem eager to move him," he writes.
Kubatko notes that it's very unlikely Baltimore decides to move him this offseason.
Samuel Basallo might have moved into the "untouchable" classification that Jackson Holliday currently has, and for good reason.
He started his 2023 season at the Single-A level before earning a promotion to their High Single-A affiliate, and then finishing the year at Double-A.
Across those three different levels, he posted a slash line of .313/.402/.551 with 20 home runs, 53 extra-base hits and 86 RBI in 114 games.
Baseball America put the catching prospect as their No. 10 overall player in their updated rankings and there's growing momentum he could become Baltimore's fourth consecutive top ranked prospect in baseball.
An offer would have to absolutely blow away Mike Elias to trade this type of talent.
Maybe they're able to use Basallo to get the ace they're looking for this offseason.
That seems very unlikely as this front office has shown their willingness to hold onto the elite prospects in their pipeline. They are also very comfortable with their projections Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez will become special pitchers at the top of their rotation and they seemingly won't move someone with this type of potential to land another starter.
Teams can continue calling Elias, but it seems like this superstar talent isn't going anywhere.
