A's Bassitt on a Journey With an Unknown Destination

One scenario has him being at least a part-time member of the Athletics rotation. But if the A's starters are as solid as advertised, the veteran could see most of his work out of the bullpen

While the numbers he put up were good, the 2019 season was something of a trial by fire for A’s starter Chris Bassitt.

He threw 155 innings, 144 of them in Oakland, making that the most work he’d put in on a pitching mound since 2015, when he also threw a career-best 155 innings.

As a result, he dealt with his weariness by taking a full month off after the 2019 season just to recuperate and get healthy again. Now he’s in the A’s camp hoping for a job as a starter but most likely to split time between the rotation and the bullpen.

He started against the Diamondbacks in a split-squad game Sunday, giving up two runs in one inning, including a Ketel Marte homer. Not the best start, but enough to encourage Bassitt.

“This might be the best I’ve felt this early,” Bassitt said. “As long as your arm feels good at this point, it’s obviously looking really good. Obviously, you want result, you want to get things done, but health is the No. 1 thing.

Having a defined job as a starter would be good, too, but Bassitt isn’t making himself crazy with the A’s leaning toward a rotation of Mike Fiers, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo despite Bassitt having turned in a 10-5 season with a 3.81 ERA in 28 games, 25 of them starts, in 2019.

A couple of years ago, Bassitt wouldn’t have been able to handle it. But he’s reached out to pitching coach Scott Emerson to tell him that whatever the A’s needs are, Bassitt is ready to shoulder the burden.

And if that means bouncing between starting and relieving as a swing man, then so be it.

“I think a couple of years ago, I saw this role and I saw it as a threat,” he told the San Jose Mercury News. “(It was like) them saying, `We don’t really trust you in either role.’

“Now I think of it as the complete opposite. I think it’s them saying, `We trust you to do both.”

And that’s just the message that A’s manager Bob Melvin wanted to get across.

“He’s the ultimate swing guy, and I don’t know if anybody does his job as well as Bass did last year,” Melvin said. “You have to accept that role. Sometimes that’s difficult to do. It’s different than in the past. It’s `You tell me what I need to do and I’ll be ready for it.’”

Bassitt, who came to the A’s in the same trade with the Chicago White Sox that netted Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien, said he hasn’t changed much about his spring preparation heading into the spring.

“If they told me I was a starter, I’m still doing the same thing as a bullpen guy,” Bassitt said.

The one thing that has changed is that he knows he’s going to break with the team. Melvin has said as much, that be it bullpen or rotation, Bassitt is one of his guys.