'The epitome of the kitchen sink': Bassitt's gem baffles Yanks

TORONTO -- Chris Bassitt stands atop the mound mowing through lineups like a man who’s just been told his flight is delayed.

This is the beauty of Bassitt’s performances. He cranes his neck from side to side, paces up and down the hill and stands with his hands on his hips, head tilted to an exhausted angle that asks, “... seriously?” Whether he’s getting rocked or pitching a perfect game, you’d never know.

These are the mound mannerisms of a true artist, one in full control of their craft.

In Monday’s 3-1 win over the Yankees, Bassitt burned through New York’s lineup for 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, yet another sign that the veteran is back in his groove. At one point, with two strikes to Anthony Volpe and two outs in the fifth, Bassitt started to nod his head along to the plan for the next pitch. This wasn’t just an “OK,” it was an “Oh, hell yeah” as he toed the rubber, still nodding and nodding.

Cutter. Strike three. Back to the dugout.

“It looks like he’s being sent off to war sometimes when he has four strikeouts in a row,” manager John Schneider said recently, laughing. “But he’s always methodically thinking about something.”

That’s the secret to all of this. There’s a method to Bassitt’s mannerisms.

“Every pitch with him has a purpose. You see him sometimes nodding his head, ‘Yeah,’ when it’s a ball,” Schneider said. “He’s trying to get to a certain spot to set something else up. When he’s got his hands on his knees and he’s shaking himself off when he’s calling his own pitch, it’s like, ‘OK, Chris.’ He’s always doing something.”

When Bassitt is at his best, you see a pitcher who has not just trudged through 10 seasons in the big leagues, but embraced those experiences and learned from them. He can flip back through innings, starts and seasons like an encyclopedia, and in between some of these moments on the mound that might fool you into thinking he’s not exactly thrilled out there, you see his passion for the game spill out.

He’s also learned to control that passion.

On May 17 last season, Bassitt pitched with a sinus infection. When his heart rate spiked, the pressure in his sinuses would spike right along with it and give him a headache on the mound. To counter that, Bassitt “tried to pitch like a zombie,” his arms hanging down by his sides between pitches as he walked slowly up and down the mound. He even took a couple of pitch timer violations intentionally, accepting the penalty of a ball so that he could keep his breathing -- and his mind -- in the right spot.

Bassitt didn’t get off to the hottest start this year, saying that he was “no help to the problem” when he expressed his disappointment with the rotation early on. Now, he’s catching up. Fast.

“I always feel like I’m a start or two behind, just because of how I go about my offseason,” Bassitt said. “I tried to do my best to make really quality starts every time, no matter what, no excuses. But physically I feel really good. I’m a couple more starts in now, so I feel like I’m hitting better spots.”

There Bassitt was again, one step ahead of every Yankees batter. If you’re trying to guess against Bassitt? Good luck.

"He is the epitome of the kitchen sink,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “He'll throw everything. He will make things up on the fly; he's very good at just coming up with different pitches, so it's hard to really get a bead on him.”

Even in a rotation filled with veterans, it’s Bassitt who so many Blue Jays look to. He lives in reality, fully aware of what goes wrong or could go wrong 10 miles down the road. He’s just as willing to heap praise upon teammates, too, which we saw throughout Spring Training and again Monday night, when Bassitt expressed his appreciation for what Alejandro Kirk has done filling in for Danny Jansen at catcher.

These have been better days for the Blue Jays’ rotation, save for Kevin Gausman, who everyone in blue believes will return to his ace form soon. While this offense searches for its own identity, it’s up to the rotation to carry this team again, like it did in 2023.

Bassitt is back, right in the middle of it all, exhaling. Is it one of frustration or relief? You’ll have to check the scoreboard.