Conventional wisdom would suggest that after the Baltimore Orioles dramatically alter their roster following the MLB trade deadline on Thursday, the team will be in a position to give top prospect, Samuel Basallo, a run at the Major League level to close the season.

Basallo figures to be in the Orioles’ 2026 plans, so baseball logic would suggest that the team should want to expose him to the Major League level when the pressure is low.

The Orioles, in theory, have a plan in place for Basallo, but interim manager Tony Mansolino has no interest in revealing what that plan may be.

While speaking with reporters on Saturday, Mansolino offered a word salad regarding what is next for Basallo.

“There’s a plan in place for him right now,” Mansolino said. “There’s definitely a plan in place; [Mike Elias] is thinking about him every day. Our front office is really smart. There’s a lot that goes into those decisions. We talked earlier in the year about knocking the door down. It feels like he’s starting to do that in a lot of ways.”

Tony Mansolino made Samuel Basallo’s MLB timeline even harder to figure out

Mansolino would go on to infer that the Orioles’ front office wants to see more development from Basallo as a catcher before bringing him up to the Major League level.

As true as that may be, the fact remains that the Orioles believe they can contend again as early as 2026, and Basallo figures to be a catcher on that roster.

What would put the Orioles in the best situation for those two things to become true would be giving Basallo an early look at catching at the Major League level during the final two months of a season where they are not contending.

Offensively, Basallo is ready, posting a 163 wRC+ at the Triple-A level this season with 20 home runs. In MLB Pipeline’s updated Top 100 list, they have Basallo as the ninth-ranked prospect in all of baseball.

The writing is on the wall; Basallo needs to be with the Major League team before the end of the season.