Why The Mets Can Count On Consistency From Chris Bassitt
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NEW YORK -- Sometimes failure leads to success down the road, whether in life or the game of baseball.
In Chris Bassitt's case, one of the most important lessons he has learned so far in the early portion of the regular season came after his lone poor outing of 2022.
Through his first five starts as a Met, Bassitt has been impressive with a 3-2 record, 2.61 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 34 strikeouts across 31 innings pitched. His only blip was against the San Francisco Giants on April 20, in which he got lit up for five-runs on eight hits.
Afterward, Bassitt said there was no silver lining that he'd take from this less than stellar performance. But this clunker wound up helping him in the long run as he was able to pinpoint what went wrong, which has allowed him to bounce-back quickly.
"I’ve kind’ve gotten back to myself," Bassitt told Inside the Mets on Tuesday. "I was throwing too many cutters and four-seam fastballs. I’m not saying that won’t happen again, that percentage of pitches, but I need to pitch to my strengths. During (my outing against) San Fran, I went away from that and they kind’ve exposed me."
Since this outlier of a start, Bassitt has gone back to relying on his best put away pitches: his sinker and slider. The righty has allowed just three runs and struck out 14 batters across his last two outings against two postseason caliber teams in the St. Louis Cardinals (pitch usage: 53% sinker/slider) and Atlanta Braves (pitch usage: 57% sinker/slider).
During this span, Bassitt has also grown more comfortable with his new battery mate in catcher James McCann.
“It was more so growing pains between me and McCann, and just getting to know each other, and how teams like to attack," Bassitt said. "I think it wasn’t great that (my start against the Giants) happened, but (it was) good moving forward because it showed us what we needed to work on."
As good as Bassitt has been in four out of five starts this season, It's a promising sign for the Mets that they have a veteran pitcher, who has the ability to swiftly get back on track after a rough outing. The righty is able to build consistency based off positive and negative experiences on the mound.
Bassitt has been a crucial addition to a Mets rotation that has lost No. 1 starter Jacob deGrom indefinitely to a stress reaction on his right scapula.
Luckily for New York, Bassitt, who was acquired from the Oakland Athletics during the offseason, is living up to expectations by dominating as a co-ace to Max Scherzer. Coincidentally, Scherzer has eerily similar numbers to Bassitt: 31 innings pitched, 2.61 ERA and 42 strikeouts in five starts. And this duo has pushed each other from a competitive standpoint since becoming teammates for the first time in spring training.
Bassitt has even caught the attention of one of the greatest pitchers of all-time: Pedro Martinez.
"Chris Bassitt has presence on the mound and a great make up. I saw him with a bright future in Oakland and now he can show that with the @Mets," Martinez tweeted on April 26.
Martinez sent this tweet prior to Bassitt's strong showing at Busch Stadium last week, where he shutout the Cardinals' offense across six innings, while allowing just two hits and striking out six.
So what do Martinez's comments mean to Bassitt?
“(It's) awesome," Bassitt said. "I mean, I would say that every pitcher in the big-leagues respects Pedro. When he has a compliment, it rings a lot louder than normal.”
Bassitt is set to become a free agent after the season concludes. However, the 33-year-old told The New York Post that he has enjoyed his time in New York so far, and is open to signing a long-term contract extension to remain a Met beyond 2022.
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