Coming into 2025, Chris Bassitt had played two of the three years on his big $63 million free agent contract.
Chris was a late bloomer, he didn’t make the majors until he was 25 and had pitched in only
40 MLB games before his 30th birthday. Guys that don’t pitch a lot of innings in their 20s often age well, or at least their arms age well
He had one good season and one not so good season in his first two with the Jays. A 2.7 bWAR and a league-leading (well, tied for league lead) 16 wins in 2023, and a -0.1 bWAR in 2024, with a 10-14 record. But then the whole team had a bad 2024 seasons.
In his third season:
| Age | WAR | W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | BF | ERA+ | FIP | WHIP | H9 | HR9 | BB9 | SO9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 2.1 | 11 | 9 | 3.96 | 32 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 170.1 | 174 | 80 | 75 | 22 | 52 | 166 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 736 | 108 | 4.01 | 1.327 | 9.2 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 8.8 |
Baseball Reference has Chris at a 2.1 WAR and FanGraphs at 2.4, giving him a value of $19.4 million for the Jays.
He had a 4.01 FIP and a 3.84 xFIP.
Chris’s BABIP was .315, up from his .333 of last year. 76.4% of baserunners were stranded, up from the 72.7 of last year.
His line drive rate was down (20.3%, from 24.2), ground ball rate was up (46.5%, from 40.3), and fly ball rate was down (33.2%, from 35.5). 13.2% of his fly balls left the park, up from 10.2.
His strikeout rate was about the same as last year’s (22.6%, from 22.2), and his walk rate was down (7.1%, from 9.2).
Bassitt’s soft contact up (20.0%, from 17.7), and hard contact down (29.7%, from 33.1).
Left-handed hitters (.283/352/.461) hit him much better than right-handers (.233/.290/.356), which is pretty normal for him. I’d have thought that Pete Walker would be working on that, but it might not be his problem anymore.
Bassitt was worse at road (5.47 ERA, batters hit .289/.350/.465) than at home (2.71, batters hit .235/.302/.370). Last year, he was much better on the road.
And his second half (3.69, .244/.317/.409) was better than his first half (4.12, .271/.330/.419). Also the reverse from last year.
Bassitt by month:
- April: 6 starts, 2-2, 2.62. Batters hit .246-292/.343 with 2 home runs.
- May: 5 starts, 3-1, 5.06. Batters hit .309/.352/.515 with 7 home run.
- June: 5 starts, 2-1, 5.46. Batters hit .257/.341/.367 with 2 home run.
- July: 6 games, 5 starts, 4-1, 4.08. Batters hit .283/.331/.522 with 7 home runs.
- August: 5 starts, 0-2, 3.67. Batters hit .214//.322/.378 with 4 home runs.
- September: 4 starts, 0-2, 2.66. Batters hit .234/.310/.325 with 0 home runs.
The Jays were 16-16 in his appearances, 16-15 in his starts. The team averaged 4.33 runs per start in his games. They scored 3 or fewer runs in 14 of his starts, shutout in 2. They also scored 8 runs 3 times, 9, 10 and 11 runs one time each.
Days of rest:
- 4 days, 14 games: 4.44, .276/.328/.464.
- 5 days, 15 games: 3.70, 244/.321/.379.
- 6 or more days, 2 games: 3.00, ..269/.328/.379.
Times through the order:
- 1st: Batters hit .244/.305/.425.
- 2nd: Batters hit .286/.350/.423.
- 3rd: Batters hit .255/.320/.401.
- He faced 6 batters in the fourth time through giving up giving up one hit, and 2 walks with 0 strikeouts.
By Catcher:
- Alejandro Kirk: 130 innings, 3.73 ERA. Batters hit .246/.313/.406
- Danny Jansen: 36 innings, 4.00 ERA. Batters hit .286/.342/.415.
- Ali Sanchez: 4 innings, 11.25 ERA. Batters hit .450/.500/.650.
Bassitt’s best game by GameScore was a 75, April 5 in New York against the Mets. He went 6.2 innings, allowing 4 hits, 0 earned, 0 walks and 9 strikeouts.
Worst start? 5 GameScore, 2 innings, 8 hits, 9 runs, 8 earned, 4 walks, 3 strikeouts, 1 home run.
He averaged 5.5 innings per start.
In the Playoffs:
Chris relieved in 7 games, with a 1.04 ERA, after being left off the roster in the ALDS.
He was terrific in relief in the next two rounds. He was so good, I’d consider re-signing him as a reliever next year, though I’m sure someone will offer him starting pitcher money. He’s only a couple of years removed from a 200-inning season, and those are rare these days.
Chris throws a ton of pitches:
- Sinker: 41.7% of the time. 91.6 mph.
- Cutter: 16.9%.
- Curve: 16.3%.
- Four Seamer: 9.3%. Averaging 91.5 mph.
- Sweeper: 5.7%.
- Split Finger: 4.6%.
- Slider: 2.9%.
- Changeup: 2.7%.
I’m amazed that pitch com has enough buttons for him.
And, of course, inside of some of those pitches, he has variants. People complain about him ‘calling his own game’ but expecting a catcher to figure out which of a dozen or so pitches is the one that Chris wants to throw at any given moment is a little much.
I really enjoy watching him pitch. There is something about pitchers that don’t get by on power. They are a lot of fun to watch. I don’t know how you bat against a guy like that. There is no way you are going to out guess him. I guess you pick a zone. Low/high, inside/outside and try to make good contact.
He’s also one of the best interview subjects on the team.
