Tim Federowicz is the Norfolk Tides’ manager for the first time this year, but he came to the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate with a wealth of high-minors coaching and managing experience after his own major league career as a catcher.

So as Orioles top prospect Samuel Basallo continues to destroy the highest level of the minors and present himself as the next young hitting star to join a lineup full of them, Federowicz’s perspective is a fitting one that Basallo has taken to heart.

“It takes a little longer for catchers, you know?” Federowicz said in a phone interview this week. “And he understands that.”

With Adley Rutschman and Maverick Handley hitting the injured list within the last week and the Orioles opting for journeymen deputies rather than Basallo, the 20-year-old backstop’s development has come into focus of late. As one of the highest-ceiling young players to come through the Orioles’ farm system this decade — which is saying something — Basallo looks like he’s living up to his billing with his offensive game.

He had 20 home runs and a .953 OPS across three levels in his age-18 season as he made his full-season debut, then spent most of last year at Double-A Bowie. He took lumps but finished with a .790 OPS and 19 home runs between there and Norfolk. So it’s a high bar to clear when Federowicz calls this Basallo’s best offensive season. He’s already smacked 15 home runs with a .956 OPS, and he is walking 15.6% of the time.

Hitting coach Mike Montville praised Basallo on what’s been one of the main developmental focuses of his minor league career.

“I think it’s just been a big focus for him, just getting more confident that it’s OK if he takes a pitch that’s not something that he feels like he can drive,” Montville said. “I think that’s a learning curve for him, because he can hit so much and he can hit a lot of balls hard, but figuring out like the better ones for him to go at, where pitches need to start, and what his zone is that he can dial in on, especially with runners in scoring position and times when the pitchers may try to be a little finer to him. It’s been a little more selective, the stuff that he wants to do, and I think he’s done a really nice job of developing in that area.”

That’s progressed as the season has, Montville said, with Basallo’s pregame work and strong understanding of how he’s going to be pitched shining through in games as he’s gaining experience. In Bowie last year, he had to at times stop himself from swinging instinctively if a pitch he was expecting ultimately came. Just because he gets a slider in the count he expected doesn’t mean it’s a strike.

This year, compared to his cameo at Norfolk last year, he’s cut down his chase rate and overall swing rate, and he’s swinging and missing less often while hitting the ball harder more often.

Federowicz is a newcomer to the organization, but he’s learning what many in player development for the Orioles have known for years: None of that is good enough for Basallo.

“He is having the best offensive year of his career, but he still doesn’t act like that,” Federowicz said. “He wants to be the best there is, so we kind of have to bring him back down and be like, ‘Listen, this is really good. You have a 950+ OPS. You’re hitting .270, and like you can’t be upset when you mishit a ball or, you know, you hit a 105 mph line-drive out. It’s just he wants to be perfect and just helping him understand that like he is doing really good and just constantly building him up.”

“There’s a lot that he has to learn, and being only 20 years old, it’s just going to take reps.”

Tim Federowicz, Norfolk manager

That’s the approach Federowicz is trying to take with Basallo behind the plate as well. In spring training, he spent a lot of time getting to know Basallo with a little catching work as Basallo was letting elbow soreness recover. He was impressed with how quickly he picked things up, and a combination of that elbow issue and a hamstring injury has meant Basallo has only recently started a full diet of catching at Triple-A.

Federowicz’s approach is to concurrently teach Basallo and let the young catcher figure out how to best apply the adjustment or tip within the confines of his own catching.

“I just kind of watch and kind of keep him in the guardrails a little bit, and he’s been great with it,” Federowicz said. “I just think it’s important for him to kind of learn why he has good games and why he has bad games, and he’s been really good, really receptive with it.”

Basallo’s arm strength has always been his signature on the defensive side, and his size means he’s needed to work on his receiving and blocking as he’s climbed the ranks — and seen improvement there based on that work. Federowicz rattled off all the other aspects of the job only experience can accelerate.

“You still have the leadership aspect [for a] catcher. You have the game planning, the calling pitches and getting pitchers through outings, learning their best stuff,” he said. “There’s a lot that he has to learn, and being only 20 years old, it’s just going to take reps.”

Considering the high defensive bar for a catcher to be major league ready — something that rarely lines up with the bat where talents like Basallo are concerned — it’s notable that Federowicz is taking the same approach with the unfavorable outcomes Basallo has behind the plate as he does at it. He is pumping him up.

“He is doing really good for his age,” he said. “All the mistakes — like, you’re going to miss a block. You’re going to miss a block. Runs are going to score because of a mistake that you make, and just helping him understand, this is all part of the process. This is all part of the growth of being a catcher. He’s going to catch plenty of blowout games. He has to understand it’s not his fault. It’s going to happen. You just have to cross it off that list, and he’s been pretty receptive of that.”

Those are all skills that experience can help. Other parts, given where Basallo is in his career, need to be accelerated. Federowicz described his current focus as “trying to help finish him a little bit more, and help him continue to grow behind the plate, and just helping him understand that’s the most important aspect of all of this.

“Can you handle a major league pitching staff? Can you manage a major league game? Stuff like that, and that’s kind of where a lot of my attention has gone now that he is being a productive catcher and a productive hitter, just trying to finalize some of the inside stuff when it comes to catching.”