With catching injuries, why haven’t Orioles given Basallo a chance? | MAILBAG

Question: Why did the Orioles acquire catchers from outside the organization while letting Samuel Basallo stay at Norfolk? Is there a compelling reason that they do not bring him up? From: Tim Dye

Answer: Tim, I actually thought there was a good chance the Orioles would have brought up Basallo over the weekend after Gary Sánchez got hurt, but they acquired Alex Jackson instead.

I think they’d like to be more confident Basallo can handle the catching part of the job before they bring him up. I think they’re more confident that he can hit at the major league level, but bringing up catchers who are not yet 21 doesn’t happen a lot.

I think Basallo gets a call after the trade deadline, but when Adley Rutschman is back. Having him pair with Rutschman would help ease him into the major leagues while pairing him with Jacob Stallings might be too much pressure for him.

They’d like to have him come to the big leagues and stay, and if they did it now, they might have to send him back down when Sánchez is ready to play again.

Question: Top prospects like Kyle Stowers and Heston Kjerstad were shuttled back and forth and never got playing time while on the major league roster, which messed with their heads. Now they are doing same thing with Coby Mayo, having only started him twice in a week. Why do they do this, especially during a year that seems lost? Has management ever been asked this directly for an answer?

Kjerstad was given a chance this year but damage was already done. From: Chris Battaglia

Answer: Chris, there’s a lot of pressure being a major league prospect, and they have to be mentally tough, and part of it is learning how to handle the uncertainties.

Stowers, who was named to the National League All-Star team on Sunday, has overcome the yo-yoing.

Unfortunately for Kjerstad, he not only had to deal with short stints in the majors, but injuries. He missed a significant amount of the second half last year after he was hit on the helmet by a pitch from Clay Holmes and sustained a concussion. I would have liked to see how he would have performed had that not happened.

He did get a real chance to play this season and didn’t play well. Hopefully, he’ll do better the next time he gets a shot with the Orioles.

As for Mayo, he’s playing better in the extended opportunity he’s been given since Ryan Mountcastle has been hurt. Tony Mansolino is trying to start him against left-handers more than right-handers, and he seems to be handling left-handers better in this stint.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style