The signing of Samuel Basallo for $1.3 million in January 2021 might not seem like that big of an event, just another of many acquisitions by a Major League team on the international amateur market.

But prior to that point, the Orioles had largely ignored that pool of potential big leaguers. Changing that was a priority for Mike Elias when he was brought in as the team’s general manager in November 2018. Basallo was the first big signing of this new effort, and that bonus was a franchise record at the time.

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His first two summers didn’t produce "wow" surface numbers, but he was already impressing the O’s player development staff with his bat speed and exit velocities from the left side of the plate. The 2023 season is what really put him on the map. Playing almo

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