Orioles terrified of repeating Jackson Holliday mistake with new top prospect

The Baltimore Orioles' attempt to climb out of last place in the AL East and back into the playoff picture took a big hit on Saturday, when the team put catcher Adley Rutschman on the 10-day Injured List with an oblique strain. Further testing revealed only a mild strain, but oblique injuries are notoriously pesky, and it sounds like the two-time All-Star will be out until at least mid-July.

It's a brutal blow for a team that was just starting to play like we all expected them to coming into the 2025 season. Rutschman hasn't been able to fully get it going at the plate just yet, with a .691 OPS this season, but his value behind the plate can't be overstated, and we know what he's capable of when he does get hot.

Losing a player of that caliber always hurts. But if there's a silver lining here, it's that the O's top prospect, 20-year-old Samuel Basallo, just so happens to also be a catcher. And he's currently lighting it up at Triple-A, with a .973 OPS and 15 homers in just 47 games.

Pretty open and shut, right? Basallo is MLB Pipeline's No. 15 overall prospect, and hopefully he'd be able to hit well enough to help keep the O's afloat until Rutschman is ready to return. There's just one problem: Basallo doesn't appear to be in Baltimore's plans, with interim manager Tony Mansolino saying that "I don't personally think you bring a guy to the big leagues with that type of profile" until he absolutely "knocks the door down".

Well, so much for that plan. It's never a good idea to rush a prospect before he's ready, and organizations always need to have one eye firmly fixed on the future in the way that fans don't. But given the other alternatives the O's are working with behind the plate, and how well Basallo is hitting right now, it's hard not to wonder whether Mike Elias and Co. are letting some rough debuts from past top prospects color their thinking here.

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Orioles worried about rushing Samuel Basallo after Adley Rutschman's injury

Baltimore's young talent was the envy of the league for most of the 2020s, headlined by guys like Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson. But while those two quickly established themselves as stars, it's worth noting that the second wave has been quite as successful. Players like Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo haven't quite got off the launch pad yet, while Jordan Westburg is struggling through an injury-plagued sophomore campaign. And, of course, there's the most high-profile case of all: Jackson Holliday, who slogged through a miserable rookie year before finally settling in a bit in 2025.

Like Holliday, Basallo hasn't taken long to mash his way through the O's farm system, making his Triple-A debut just after his 20th birthday last season. He hits the ball as hard as anybody in the Minors, and his strikeout and walk numbers are where you'd want them to be. But if we learned anything from the Holliday saga, it's that even the most can't-miss of can't-miss prospects can have a hard time adjusting to the best pitchers on the planet.

It would be one thing if Baltimore were calling Basallo up with a fully healthy roster and a runway to ease him into big-league life. But bringing him to the Majors now would be putting a ton on his plate, trying to adjust to playing a very difficult position while filling some very big shoes in the middle of a playoff push. Add to that Basallo's questionable defensive ability behind the plate, and suddenly you can understand why the O's might not want to put too much on his plate too soon. They tried that with Holliday, and it took him over a year to dig out of the hole.