Blue Jays takeaways: ‘Less is more’ for Chris Bassitt, the Aaron Judge plan and more

Sports

add

NEW YORK — Chris Bassitt has a deep bag and loves to dig through it for something new. The 36-year-old Blue Jays starting pitcher has thrown eight different pitches in his MLB career (not counting the many variations of each), he’s raised his arm angle, dropped it back down and moved all over the rubber.

Bassitt has plenty of ideas on how to perfect his craft — many experiments to try. But the righty’s 2025 success, with a 2.62 ERA through six starts, is the product of simplification.

“He does have a lot of ideas,” manager John Schneider said. “I think having his buddy Max (Scherzer) here sparked some more ideas. But we’ve found with Chris that sometimes less is more, and I think that’s kind of where he is right now.”

In Sunday’s 5-1 loss in the nightcap of a doubleheader, Bassitt threw just three pitches more than 7 percent of the time: sinker, cutter and curveball. He still mixed in the accoutrement offerings in his 5 2/3 innings, striking out five while giving up four runs, but his arsenal isn’t as extensive as the reputation suggests.

This year, it’s a four-pitch mix against righties, relying on a sinker more than half the time. Against lefties, it’s five options with the cutter and spitter earning play in 2025.

The bigger simplification for Bassitt comes on the mound. In the final months of 2024, the righty moved closer to the third-base side of the pitching rubber. The benefit was brilliance against right-handed batters, forcing an unhittable angle for same-sided batters. Righties posted a .194 batting average from the platoon in his final nine starts. But production against lefties fell as a consequence, as they hit .344 in that same stretch.

This year, Bassitt moved back closer to the middle, hoping to neutralize the stark splits. Entering Sunday’s start against New York, both lefties and righties had on-base plus slugging percentages under .680 against him. Bassitt’s two homers allowed in Sunday’s second game were his first two this season.

“That was the trade-off when he did move the right left thing,” Schneider said. “And I think where he is now kind of has softened the extreme splits a little.”

Bassitt isn’t likely to stop digging in his bag for more — he was entirely unsatisfied with Sunday’s outing in the Bronx, planning to break down his sixth inning mistakes to correct them. But, on the season overall, simple is working.

Blue Jays struggle to cash in on base runners

Will Wagner stepped in as the Blue Jays’ final hope at Yankee Stadium. The young third baseman sent a lazy fly ball to centre field, capping a 5-1 loss that finished off a doubleheader sweep. Paired with an 11-1 loss in the early game, it was the fourth time the Blue Jays were held to one or fewer runs during a brutal six-game road trip in which they went 1-5.

“The guys are definitely better than that,” Schneider said. “We know that, they know that. You got to stay positive and you got to keep working on it.”

Getting runners on hasn’t been Toronto’s problem. After the double dip, the Blue Jays sat 15th in batting average and 16th in on-base percentage — that’s fine, average. In three games against the Yankees, Toronto tallied 23 hits and nine walks. Turning base runners into runs has been the gargantuan task. Those 32 base runners in New York were converted into just four runs.

The big hits — whether it’s a multi-run homer or a clutch contribution with runners in scoring position — have been so sparse. The Blue Jays got a game-winning hit from Alejandro Kirk in the series opener, but mustered just two homers in the series. That’s two dingers in a park that ranks first for home runs in Baseball Savant’s 2025 park factors.

Blue Jays are wise to be careful with Aaron Judge

José Berríos didn’t throw a single pitch over the plate in his first-inning battle on Friday with Aaron Judge. Every delivery caught the edge of the zone or fell outside it. But the sinkers and changeups were just close enough to earn swings, falling away from Judge’s barrel for the strikeout.

That delicate approach was exactly how the Blue Jays planned to pitch Judge ahead of the series. The big basher entered the three-game set hitting .415, leading baseball in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. The choice was binary when Judge came to the plate, Schneider said, pitch carefully or intentionally walk.

“He does such a good job of understanding that pitchers are going to pitch him carefully,” Schneider said. “And when they do that, mistakes happen, usually, and he does not miss those.”

Toronto stuck to the careful plan for most of the series, declining to issue any intentional walks and leaning instead on execution. Sinking fastballs and sliding pitches on the outside of the zone held Judge to three singles and no RBIs in his first 10 at-bats against Toronto pitching. Then, the mistake finally came.

Judge mashed a Bassitt cutter that caught too much plate in Sunday’s second game, sending a home run to the right-field seats.

The Captain Connects 🫡#AllRise pic.twitter.com/fZ8oOJOKAQ

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 27, 2025

“You have to go away from damage,” Bassitt said of facing Judge. “And I thought that pitch was the pitch away from damage, but obviously it wasn’t.”

Judge’s blast on Sunday was his 39th career homer against Toronto. In 13 games last season, he posted a .326 average and 1.070 OPS against the Blue Jays. The MVP’s looming presence isn’t going away, with 10 more games against the Yankees on the schedule for the Blue Jays this season. Toronto pitchers must call on that careful plan again soon.

Blue Jays need a legit No. 5 starter

Max Scherzer threw twice at Yankee Stadium, taking what Schneider called a “baby step” in throwing off the mound. While the 40-year-old continues to test his ailing thumb after two cortisone shots, a hole is left in Toronto’s rotation.

The Blue Jays managed to work through one turn of the rotation this week with just four starters, but the fifth spot will pop up again on Wednesday against the Red Sox. Unless he returns as an injury replacement, the recently-optioned Easton Lucas must stay in the minors for at least 15 days before he can return, leaving veteran Eric Lauer or a patchwork reliever approach as the Blue Jays’ top options to cover the spot.

Toronto may choose the bullpen day this time, but the Blue Jays need to find a legit fifth option going forward. Kevin Gausman, Bassitt, and Berríos are over 31 years old and have all pitched at least 540 innings in the last three seasons. The veteran rotation trio has been the best part of the Blue Jays’ mix so far this season, and burning them out with a shortened rotation and fewer rest days isn’t tenable.

“I know we do have a lot of off days,” Schneider said. “But I think trying to avoid doing the four-man (rotation) kind of regularly right now would be important.”

(Photo of Chris Bassitt: Evan Bernstein / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

LIV Golf Mexico City: Legion XIII has strong Round 3 to rally for the win

golf

Next

trending_flat

Fantasy Baseball 2-Start Pitcher Rankings: Top options are far from perfect, but can help you this week

Sports