Quote from sharonorn on November 4, 2025, 7:46 pm

The Orioles locked up a key piece of their future on Friday afternoon, signing rookie catcher to an eight-year extension. The deal, which covers the 2026-33 seasons and comes with a 2034 club option, reportedly guarantees the CAA Baseball client $67MM. Basallo, who celebrated his 21st birthday just nine days ago, receives a $5MM signing bonus and can max out the contract at $88.5MM via various escalators. Baltimore buys out at least two would-be free agent seasons with the Mike Ford Jersey option for a third. The salary breaks down as follows: $1MM annually between 2026-28 $4MM in 2029 $7MM in 2030 $11MM in 2031 $15MM annually between 2032-33 $18MM club option ($7MM buyout) for 2034 Its a testament to Basallos status as one of the most impre sive prospects in the entire league. He was a consensus top-15 prospect in the sport entering the 2025 season and has only improved his stock since then after slashing .270/.377/.589 (151 wRC+) in 76 games for Triple-A Norfolk this season with 23 homers and a 13.7% walk rate. He did all that while being the youngest qualified hitter in the International League this year. That sort of sensational production left nothing for Basallo to prove at Triple-A in terms of his bat, and while his time in the majors has barely begun hes already gotten off to a hot start by going 3-for-10 with a double, a run scored, five RBI, a hit-by-pitch and just one strikeout acro s his first 11 plate appearances in the majors. With that said, questions have been raised about his defensive ability behind the plate by outside prospect evaluation services. Even GM Mike Elias himself that he felt Basallos skills behind the plate needed more work before he came to the majors back in June, though the fact that hes not only been called up since then but has now inked a ma sive extension certainly suggests that Elias and the rest of the Orioles bra s have liked what theyve seen. Just yesterday, was due to an oblique strain which figures to have the secondary effect of opening up plenty of playing time for Basallo behind the plate down the stretch. That should give the Orioles plenty of opportunity to see how he handles the rigors of the position at the big league level and make an informed decision about how hell be used in 2026. Whether Basallo winds up behind the plate or at first base, however, the deal is a reasonable enough sum that the Orioles can feel comfortable with the investment. Basallos $67MM guarantee is seventh-highest figure among 12 hitters who have extended with their clubs after making their big league debut but prior to reaching one year of MLB service time, according to . Two such players have signed extensions this year: #1 overall prospect , who had 38 days of MLB service time when the Red Sox locked him up on a over eight seasons, and Anthonys teammate , who had just six days of MLB service time when he landed an that guaranteed him $59.2MM over seven years in new money. Basallo, who is also signing an extension le s than a week after his major league debut, wound up receiving a contract that narrowly beats out Campbells in terms of total guarantee. Of course, it can be somewhat fairly argued that both Basallo and Campbell fit better with the group of who have signed pre-debut extensions in the past decade given how shortly after their MLB debuts both players signed an extension. After all, players like and signed nine-figure deals during their rookie seasons, but only did so after they had already accumulated more than 100 days of MLB service time and put up performances that would go on to win them their leagues Rookie of the Year award. If compared to the pre-debut group, only s from the Brewers prior to the 2024 season was higher, as Basallo eclipses both Campbells aforementioned deal and the landed with the White Sox. Because Basallos extension came after his MLB debut, hes eligible to earn a draft pick for the organization via the Prospect Promotion Incentive. Because Basallo debuted too late in the 2025 season to exhaust his rookie eligibility, if he earns a full year of service time in 2026 the Orioles could stand to gain a PPI pick in the event that he wins the 2026 AL Rookie of the Year award or is a finalist for the AL MVP award in the years before he would become arbitration-eligible. Players who sign pre-debut extensions like Chourio are not eligible for the PPI, but thats not the case for players who sign extensions following their MLB debut. and have both netted their teams PPI draft picks even after signing extensions, for example. Its at least plausible that those rules regarding PPI picks contributed to Baltimores decision to wait until after Basallos big league debut to finalize their extension with the youngster. While Basallos guarantee is hardly onerous even for a low-spending club like the Orioles, the deal is surely both exciting and encouraging for fans in Baltimore. Previous star prospects produced by the farm system like Rutschman and have developed into star players ticketed for large paydays without signing an extension, and the lack of extensions for that first wave of youngsters has led to pe simism in some circles about the po sibility of extending up-and-coming prospects from the next wave like and . Considering that Basallos deal is the first long-term extension for an Orioles player since they all the way back in 2012, it serves as much-needed a surance for fans that the organization is willing to commit to its homegrown talent long-term. first reported that the Orioles and Basallo were nearing an eight-year, $67MM deal with a club option and a max value of $88.5MM. reported the specific salary structure. Rob Dibble Jersey
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