How Bassitt topped career-high in innings at age 34

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat Newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Chris Bassitt has taken the question of quality versus quantity and asked: Why not both?

At 34, he’s having a career year in the quantity department, setting himself up for a run at 200 innings in his final start of the regular season next week in Toronto. At 192 1/3 innings, he ranks fifth in MLB behind only Logan Webb, Gerrit Cole, Zac Gallen and Framber Valdez.

That’s some fine company. 

“I think a lot of people look at my age and say that my workload should be decreasing,” Bassitt said, “but I feel that I have learned my body and I have learned what it takes for me to pitch every single day, especially post Tommy John. I’ve been tinkering with workload in the offseason and workload right now. Everything is changing in the right direction and it’s about learning my body.”

Bassitt underwent surgery back in May of 2016, just three years into his big-league career. He’d been dealt from the White Sox to the A’s a couple of years prior, along with Marcus Semien, in the Jeff Samardzija deal. He was just establishing himself then, but what he learned during that rehab process has stuck.

“One of the biggest things is that you have to be really, really honest with the training staff and the strength staff,” Bassitt said. “That’s how I got through Tommy John, by being honest with those guys and having those guys help me out. I feel that, to be truthful, I haven’t changed that approach. I know that a lot of guys will hide injuries or hide soreness, and instead of nipping it in the bud in the beginning, you let it go and let it go. Sometimes guys get hurt like that. I’ve learned to avoid that by being honest.”

This is exactly what the Blue Jays signed up for when they handed Bassitt $63 million over three years this past offseason. There’s risk involved when you sign a pitcher for their age 34-to-36 seasons, but the Blue Jays were confident from the beginning that Bassitt would be durable. Now, we’re seeing why. 

“He’s really smart. He knows how he feels,” said manager John Schneider. “He’s at the point of his career, too, where he’s tried multiple different things. He’s had surgery, he’s rehabbed, he’s had good years and fair years. He’s at that point where he just understands what it takes to keep himself ready for 162. Some days are lighter sides, some days are harder, some days not at all.”

Combine Bassitt with Kevin Gausman, José Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi, and you have 712 2/3 innings. That’s an incredible number, and maybe the most important one to the Blue Jays’ success in 2023. 

It’s also saved the Blue Jays from being forced to dig into their rotation depth, which isn’t exactly a strength. The return of Hyun Jin Ryu just in time to take over Alek Manoah’s rotation spot has been a major help, too, but the top four arms in this rotation have been absolute rocks. You can set your watch to them. 

“It’s awesome,” Schneider said. “They have a great relationship with Pete, with Jeff, with Dave. Even when they’re playing catch, we monitor what they’re doing when they’re playing catch. He’s said a number of times this year that, ‘A younger me would have done this or a younger me would have done that.’ He’s got a good feel for what he’s doing.”

A rotation of this quality fits on any roster, but it’s particularly well fit to how the Blue Jays want to win games. 

Bassitt said following Friday’s win over the Rays that the Blue Jays’ identity needs to be pitching and defense, which is how he believes teams win a World Series. The Blue Jays are a strong defensive team with a great bullpen, so this lines up. 

What allows those facets of the Blue Jays to truly shine, though, is this rotation. Toronto’s starters have made a remarkable habit of pitching deep into games and pinning the opponent’s lineup down just long enough for the Blue Jays to scrape across a few runs, and few pitchers in baseball have done a better job of that than Bassitt.