{"id":114862,"date":"2026-02-27T13:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=114862"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T18:40:28","slug":"oriolessamuel-basallo-avoids-major-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/27\/oriolessamuel-basallo-avoids-major-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Prized Rookie Samuel Basallo Reportedly Avoids Major Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Orioles escaped disaster on Thursday after top prospect Samuel Basallo<\/a> was pulled from a spring training game.<\/p>\n

The eighth-ranked prospect in all of baseball told reporters on Friday morning that he felt “fine” and that he should get back into games this weekend.<\/p>\n

“Orioles\u2019 Samuel Basallo is in good spirits after leaving yesterday\u2019s game with abdominal discomfort,” Baltimore Sun reporter Matt Weyrich wrote on X<\/a>. “Suggested that the injury was just cramping and he thinks he\u2019ll be able to get back in a game this weekend.”<\/p>\n

\n

Orioles\u2019 Samuel Basallo is in good spirits after leaving yesterday\u2019s game with abdominal discomfort. Suggested that the injury was just cramping and he thinks he\u2019ll be able to get back in a game this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Matt Weyrich (@ByMattWeyrich) February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Baltimore’s prized prospect exited Thursday’s game after appearing to injure his abdomen on a tag play at home plate against the Detroit Tigers. Basallo fielded a 9-4-2 relay throw from Jeremiah Jackson<\/a> on a double, extending backwards to tag out Matt Vierling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Basallo made a successful tag, but quickly reached for his right side and stayed down in obvious discomfort. The 21-year-old was able to walk off the field on his own power, accompanied by a trainer.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n

Injuries the Story for Orioles Early On<\/h2>\n

Basallo would have been the second player to go down in spring training for the team if he missed extended time.<\/p>\n

Baltimore lost infield utilityman Jordan Westburg<\/a> due to a partial UCL tear on Feb. 20. The 26-year-old complained of elbow discomfort while rehabbing from an oblique injury. The team opted for a plasma injection to attempt to speed up recovery, but manager Craig Albernaz said he was “physically unable to perform.”<\/p>\n

\n

Jordan Westburg diagnosed with partial UCL tear; will be out until at least May. pic.twitter.com\/cURBWZBsvf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) February 20, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The team also might lose second baseman and former number one prospect Jackson Holliday<\/a> as he recovers from hand surgery. Holliday went under the knife to repair a broken hamate bone he sustained when taking batting practice earlier in February.<\/p>\n

Pitcher Zach Eflin<\/a> is looking to bounce back after undergoing a lumber microdiscectomy procedure in 2025. Closer Felix Bautista<\/a> is also out for 2026 due to a torn rotator cuff and labrum.<\/p>\n

Basallo a Pivotal Figure for a 2026 Comeback Story<\/h2>\n

Basallo is seeking to become a pivotal figure on the team for the 2026 season. At Triple-A last year<\/a>, Basallo hit a .270\/.366\/.966 with three home runs and a 15% walk rate. His whiff rate and chase rate were elevated. But it was good enough to earn him a promotion to the Majors in August.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old is currently projected to be the team’s designated hitter on opening day, per Fangraphs<\/a>. Basallo had originally been projected to be the team’s first baseman. But that changed upon the signing of former New York Met Pete Alonso<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Orioles escaped disaster on Thursday after top prospect Samuel Basallo was pulled from a spring training game. The eighth-ranked prospect in all of baseball told reporters on Friday morning that he felt “fine” and that he should get back into games this weekend. “Orioles\u2019 Samuel Basallo is in good spirits after leaving yesterday\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5304,"featured_media":114870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,3,35],"tags":[5662,5780,4917,3716,6042,2402,28816,6077],"class_list":["post-114862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-orioles","category-news","tag-felix-bautista","tag-jackson-holliday","tag-jeremiah-jackson","tag-jordan-westburg","tag-matt-vierling","tag-pete-alonso","tag-samuel-basallo","tag-zach-eflin"],"modified_by":"Augustus Oswald, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114862"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114872,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114862\/revisions\/114872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}