Owner Rubenstein says Basallo deal a 'symbolic first step' for Orioles

BALTIMORE (AP) — A day after Samuel Basallo became the first young Baltimore Orioles player to sign a long-term, pre-arbitration contract extension under the current regime, owner David Rubenstein suggested he won't be the last.

The Orioles celebrated the completion of an eight-year, $67 million deal with the rookie catcher during a Saturday news conference attended by most of Basallo's teammates. Among them: shortstop Gunnar Henderson and fellow catcher Adley Rutschman, the first All-Stars drafted by general manager Mike Elias.

Despite payroll jumps of approximately $40 million in back-to-back seasons, Baltimore's inability to reach long-term deals with Henderson, Rutschman or other young regulars has exacerbated tensions during a disappointing season.

Rubenstein assured fans it wasn't for lack of effort, and that locking down a 21-year-old who is the game's No. 8 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, is part of a larger strategy.

“Everybody's disappointed,” Rubenstein said of the Orioles' 59-69 record entering Saturday. “In my own life, like many of you, I’ve had disappointments before. And you pick yourself up, you get back on your feet, you kind do the best you can and move forward. So we’re going to move forward. This is a very important symbolic first step as we move forward. We’re very pleased with this decision but we hope we can have others like this at some point. We’re going to work on that.”

Rutschman was terrific for his first couple of years in the majors, but he slumped toward the end of 2024 and has hit .227 during an injury-plagued 2025. Now the Orioles have made a commitment to Basallo, who can also play first base. Elias suggested Basallo and Rutschman — who is under team control through the 2027 season — could coexist.

“From my point of view, the more the merrier when it comes to good players,” Elias said. “We’ve got a lot of guys here, Samuel included, who are really good athletes that can play multiple positions. And the fact that we have multiple great catchers is a good thing. And we’re going to be able to put guys at first base and DH and share those at-bats.”

Basallo had only 16 major league at-bats entering Saturday's game against Houston, but his extension is already the third pre-arbitration deal handed out to a rookie this season. Boston secured agreements with outfielder Roman Anthony and second baseman Kristian Campbell.

“Obviously, it’s life-changing money, and it’s a big blessing that God has placed over my family,” Basallo said through an interpreter. “We don’t yet know what we are going to do. We know we have plans and people that are going to help us figure that out. But right now my focus is to play baseball and do everything that I can to help the team win games.”

The Dominican Republic native is the first Orioles player to sign an extension before completing his arbitration years since outfielder Adam Jones agreed to a six-year, $85.5 million deal in 2012. Jones would have been a free agent following the 2013 season.

“This is something that is not easy for the organization or players to line up on, that’s part of it. That’s OK,” Elias said. “But we work very hard at this. And any time we think there’s an opportunity to line up and have it make sense for both parties, it’s something that we discuss and explore.”

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