Baltimore Orioles Demote Jeremiah Jackson After Samuel Basallo’s Activation

The Baltimore Orioles announced on Wednesday that catcher Samuel Basallo was ready to be activated from the 10-day injured list after making a full recovery from right shoulder inflammation. However, in doing so the team had to clear space on the active roster, and the result was sending down infielder Jeremiah Jackson.

Basallo collected one hit in three at-bats in his first game back after missing nearly a month during Wednesday's loss to the New York Yankees.

He has fully broken out this year and has proven he is worth every penny of the contract president of baseball operations Mike Elias gave him after just four games in the big leagues.

Across 87 games, Basallo has posted a .242 batting average, .308 on-base percentage, .757 OPS, 16 home runs and 46 RBIs.

However, the bigger story here is Jackson's demotion, which represents a freefall after one of the most electric starts of any player on the roster this season.

Jackson began the year as one of the hottest hitters not just on the Orioles but in all of baseball. The 26-year-old former second-round pick had seemingly finally broken out.

In March and April he posted a .270 batting average, .288 on-base percentage, .768 OPS, six home runs and 24 RBIs across 104 plate appearances.

He got his opportunity due to Jackson Holliday being sidelined after undergoing surgery on his right hamate bone and Jordan Westburg trying to recover from a partial UCL tear, and he made the most of it by looking like a legitimate everyday player.

Since then the bottom has fallen out. He has hit just one home run since April along with just 15 total RBIs in the months that followed.

In August, Jackson went hitless across 20 plate appearances, and with Holliday's return his playing time had evaporated entirely, making this decision a natural conclusion to a painful second half.

For now the Orioles do not have much second base depth, but they will likely look for someone with more offensive upside than Jackson has shown recently. They could find someone internally or claim a player on the waiver wire.

For Jackson, this is an opportunity to get back to the minor leagues and rediscover what made him so productive earlier this year. He plays excellent defense and can handle both the infield and the outfield, so this may not be the last Orioles fans see of him at the big-league level. But it very well could be the last they see of him in 2026.