With the Blue Jays a whopping 16 games out of first place in the American League East and eight teams in front of them in the wild card race, right-hander Chris Bassitt and several other notable Toronto players could be traded before the fast-approaching July 30 trade deadline. It would make a lot of sense for the Blue Jays to move on from Bassitt, a 35-year-old on a contract worth $22 million annually that extends through next season. No shortage of contenders are seeking pitching help, and Bassitt would seemingly yield an attractive return.
His track record is that of a reliable starter. Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Bassitt has logged a 3.43 ERA and a 3.79 FIP while tossing the seventh-most innings in the majors. Moreover, after a rocky first month (5.64 ERA, 5.55 FIP across his first six starts), he has been at the top of his game since the beginning of May. Bassitt boasts a 2.69 ERA and a 3.02 FIP over his past 13 starts, and he’s gone at least five frames in all of them. Overall, he is 8-7 with a 3.52 ERA, a 3.73 FIP, and 2.0 WAR across 107 1/3 innings this season.
How does the 10-year veteran approach his craft? I sat down with him earlier this month to find out.
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David Laurila: Would you call yourself a pitching nerd?
Chris Bassitt: “I like to understand the art of it, for sure. I would say that it’s more been a fascination with just watching guys. I’ve been blessed to be teammates with a lot of guys who are really, really good, and I’ve always liked to watch the pitches they use, how they use them, who they use them against. Things like that.
“If I’m having struggles with, say, a certain type of hitter, I kind of go back to what I’ve seen in the past with other pitchers and what they’ve done. If that makes me a nerd, then yeah.”
Laurila: Are you mostly just watching — I’m sure video is a big part of that — or are you also digging into the data?
Bassitt: “Not so much the data. I can watch the game and tell you pretty much what the numbers are going to say. I don’t need the numbers to tell me that a guy’s four-seamer is really good, or that a guy’s sinker sinks, or runs, a lot more than normal. You can kind of see that. I would say that the data is more for people that can’t watch a game and understand what things are. So, my stuff is all film. I don’t need the numbers to tell me what’s going on.”
Laurila: It sounds like you’re never chasing specific metrics when trying to refine any of your pitches.
Bassitt: “I mean, pitch metrics are good and great, but the reality of pitch metrics is that you’re blessed with this or that. I can’t make the vertical on my four-seam be 18 to 20 [inches]; I’m not capable of doing that. If I chased that, I feel like I’d have to completely alter my mechanics, and altering mechanics greatly increases risk of injury, and things like that. Your metrics are your metrics, so why worry about them?
“You can tinker with things a little bit, or maybe try to learn a new pitch and see how it is metrically, but overall, a guy’s fastball is a guy’s fastball [and] his slider is his slider. I don’t need the metrics to tell me, ‘Yeah, it’s your slider.’ I know it, man. I know that kind of thing. I can easily go out there and throw a fastball and tell you what the metrics are without knowing them.”
Laurila: That said, you presumably have tried to tweak pitches to add either more vertical or horizontal break…
Bassitt: “I wouldn’t say tweak pitches. I just have added pitches. Like I said, I am a firm believer that, for the most part, your pitches are your pitches. It’s basically just, ‘Do they work or do they not work?’ And if they don’t work, there is only so much tinkering you can do until you’re crossing a very fine line in changing mechanics. Again, people get hurt by doing that. The risk of possibly tinkering with a pitch is not worth the reward. Maybe you’re making a pitch nastier, but after a few innings you get hurt. That doesn’t make sense.”
Laurila: What is your full repertoire right now?
Bassitt: “Four-seam, sinker — I can make my two-seamer more like a true sinker — cutter, slider, curve, sweeper, changeup, splitter. I think that’s it.”
Laurila: That’s a lot of pitches…
Bassitt: “Yes. I would say that I genuinely have eight or nine pitches that are distinctly different. In reality, I probably only throw four or five of them against any individual hitter, depending on their weakness. For instance, some guys hit sinkers away really, really good, and they hit sinkers in really, really bad. You need to understand that; you need to understand the data. There are also miss patterns to be aware of. It’s ‘All right, I can’t miss in to this guy,’ or “All right, I can’t miss away to this guy.’ But yeah, I have eight or nine pitches that I can utilize to go after different hitters.”
Laurila: How many pitches did you have when you made your major league debut [in 2014]?
Bassitt: “Essentially two. I was sinker-curveball, with a really bad changeup.”
Laurila: From there, you’ve incrementally added pitches over the years…
Bassitt: “Yes. I guess it has been me tinkering with pitches, but not tinkering like, ‘Hey, I’m trying to adjust a grip’ — or whatever it may be — to throw a different style of a pitch. It’s been more, ‘I struggle with this type of hitter, so I need to add this type of pitch.’
“I struggled against lefties — they were always diving on my sinker — early on. I had a really hard time throwing sinkers in to lefties, so I developed a cutter. Then I developed a sweeper to improve my numbers against righties. I developed a splitter to improve my numbers against lefties. I developed a changeup to improve my numbers against righties.
“It’s always been about trying to stay ahead of the curve, so to speak. Teams are trying to adjust to you, and you have to stay ahead of that. If they adjust to you — if they fully adjust — the chances of you staying in the league for a long time are very slim. So yeah, I always try to stay ahead of what hitters are trying to do.”
Laurila: You mentioned being able to make your two-seamer more of a sinker. Does that mean you can get either more vertical or arm-side movement with it?
Bassitt: “Yes.”
Laurila: For you, that’s mostly a matter of feel; you can pick up a baseball and intuitively manipulate how the ball moves.
Bassitt: “Yeah. I know how I need to throw it to make it go certain ways — say add a little depth or whatever it may be. But overall, it’s more understanding your pitches. I think the thing that is lost most in pitching today is the art of understanding, ‘Who are you?’ I watch a lot of games and see a lot of players pitch, and I don’t think many of them can truly answer that question: ‘Who are you?’ There are a lot of throwers in today’s game.”
Laurila: A question I’ve asked a lot of pitchers over the years is whether they view pitching as more of an art or as more of a science. Based on this conversation, I assume you would say that it’s more of an art.
Bassitt: “Yes, and it ain’t close. If all you’re looking for is ‘stuff,’ you’re completely misunderstanding the game. Eventually the game will either force you to understand it, or you’re just going to be out of the game. You have to understand the art of pitching.”
