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Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt Brought Yankees’ Juan Soto to His Knees With Filthy Breaking Ball

Bassitt had Soto completely fooled by this curveball during the Blue Jays-Yankees game.
Tim Capurso|
Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt Brought Yankees’ Juan Soto to His Knees With Filthy Breaking Ball
Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt Brought Yankees’ Juan Soto to His Knees With Filthy Breaking Ball

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Toronto Blue JaysNew York Yankees

New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto is known for having one of the best eyes at the plate of any player in MLB. But even Soto, an intimidating hitter in the box, can be fooled by a pitch every now and then. 

That's exactly what happened during the third inning of Friday's spring training clash between the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark, as Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt struck out Soto swinging on a curveball. 

But not just any curveball. 

A curveball that brought Soto, who unleashed a vicious swing, to his knees. Here's video of the filthy breaker, courtesy of Rob Friedman on X (formerly Twitter). 

It's not often that Soto, who owns a career .421 OBP (On-Base Percentage) and has struck out more than 100 times in a season just twice, gets fooled this badly by a pitch. But not every pitcher in MLB possesses a velocity-dropping, knee-buckling curveball like the one that Bassitt has. 

The Blue Jays hurler, entering his second season with the club, allowed just one run and struck out four in 4 1/3 innings of work against the Yankees. 

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated, primarily covering MLB, college football and college basketball. Before joining SI in November 2023, Capurso worked at RotoBaller and ClutchPoints and is a graduate of Assumption University. When he's not working, he can be found at the gym, reading a book or enjoying a good hike. A resident of New York, Capurso openly wonders if the Giants will ever be a winning football team again.

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