Samuel Basallo 2022

[Tony-OH]

It's time to give this 17-year old (turns 18 in mid-August) his own thread. Playing against older competition, Basallo is hitting .444/.500/.611/1.111 with a home run over his last five games. He's striking out a bit too much overall, but it's not awful at 28.6%. 

His LD rate is good at 23.1% but his groundball rate is too high (53.8%) but at the end of he day, he's one of the youngest players in the league and he's certainly holding his own so far. 

 

[Chaka Garcia]

If Basallo doesn’t make it as a catcher, does he have the arm for right field? Or is he likely a 1B/DH due to size/athletic ability?

[LTO's]

Basallo just hit another home run today

[MurphDogg]

20 minutes ago, LTO's said:

Basallo just hit another home run today

His OPS is up to .911 following the home run. As I mentioned in this thread, all of the 17 year-olds with an OPS of .800+ in the GCL (which is now the FCL) from 2009-2015 have since reached the Majors and many of them have been quite successful (Soto, Acuna, Devers, Albies).

 

[MurphDogg]

Whelp, Basallo hit another homer, his second of the day. So much for that slow start everyone was worried about.

Now I am starting to wonder if he gets a taste of the Carolina League in Delmarva before the end of the season.

[RZNJ]

13 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Whelp, Basallo hit another homer, his second of the day. So much for that slow start everyone was worried about.

Now I am starting to wonder if he gets a taste of the Carolina League in Delmarva before the end of the season.

I thought I had a scoop but I'm a little slow today.   lol

Maybe another update will be needed later?

[Tony-OH]

Now has hit two home runs today! This kid could be breaking out!

[LookinUp]

In 3 years we'll all be talking about where we were when Tony created a thread for this kid out of the blue.  

[Sports Guy]

50 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Now has hit two home runs today! This kid could be breaking out!

Why isn’t he in Delmarva yet?!?

[jabba72]

Still only 17. Pretty impressive for one of only two 17 years olds in the FCL. Looks like we might have someone here. 

[Triple Crown]

Was there today and saw the show by Basallo. First 2 AB’s were just rockets, one to right center and one down the line in right. Later he K’d vs a big hard throwing RH and then hit another rocket to deep right center in his last AB that easily could’ve been another HR, but had too much top spin and was caught at the track. Very impressive and looked more comfortable behind the plate. I don’t think the lefty he hit his 2 HR’s was as tough as AyalaJr. (Rays) but still super impressive

[RZNJ]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Why isn’t he in Delmarva yet?!?

Considering Willems is not exactly lighting it up at Delmarva and basically spent no time in the GCL and just turned 19 himself, it's not the craziest idea to maybe switch them at some point.    It looks like both could start at Delmarva next year and share catching/1B/DH duties.   Willems will still be 19 to begin next year.  Basallo will be 18.

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

Considering Willems is not exactly lighting it up at Delmarva and basically spent no time in the GCL and just turned 19 himself, it's not the craziest idea to maybe switch them at some point.    It looks like both could start at Delmarva next year and share catching/1B/DH duties.   Willems will still be 19 to begin next year.  Basallo will be 18.

Yea I would say there is zero chance Willems is in Aberdeen to start the year next year unless things completely change for him. 

[Frobby]

I’m excited about his hot 4 games, but not ready to draw any big conclusions.   It’s great to have something positive going on in the FCL though.  I’ll definitely be checking the FCL box scores more regularly.  

[Jammer7]

Good to see his growth and success. Sometimes that kind of thing is contagious for the other guys. I hope he stays there for the remainder of the FCL. At 17, first year stateside and all, no need to push him this year. Especially if they have a legitimate interest in him remaining behind the plate.