Chris Bassitt turns in disappointing second season with the Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays came into 2024 with high hopes for the starting rotation, but things didn't exactly go as planned, at least not for the first four months of the season. After boasting one of the top rotations in Major League Baseball in 2023, the starters were supposed to be the least of the team's concerns.

But things don't always go as planned.

The rotation scuffled to a 19th-ranked 6.0 fWAR and middling 4.13 ERA in the first half before turning things around over the final two months. There was plenty of blame to go around, but one of the main culprits for the poor showing in 2024 was veteran Chris Bassitt.

After going 16-8 with a 3.60 ERA in 2023, in his first season in a Blue Jays uniform, we were all expecting a much different version of the 35-year-old than we saw toe the rubber this year.

Chris Bassitt turns in disappointing second season with the Blue Jays

Bassitt finished the year with a 10-14 record, a 4.16 ERA and an unsightly 1.46 WHIP in 171 innings, well shy of the 200 innings he pitched last year. His ERA was the highest of his career, outside of a Tommy John-shortened season in 2016 with the Oakland Athletics.

He stumbled out of the gate with a 5.64 ERA through the first month, contributing to the rotation's 3.95 ERA, which, by the way, was the worst mark in the AL East.

“This is my third start, too, but two of my starts were terrible in my opinion, so I’m no help to the problem,” Bassitt said partway through April (subscription required), per The Athletic's Kaitlyn McGrath.

After righting the ship and posting a sparkling 2.15 ERA through May and June, things unraveled for Bassitt. He went 3-8 with a 5.38 ERA over the final three months of the season. He threw just three quality starts in these 14 outings and allowed four or more runs in five starts.

Bassitt doesn't rely on high velocity to be effective. He instead needs pinpoint command with his loaded arsenal of pitches. The right-hander didn't have it this season, posting an uncharacteristic 3.68 BB/9 — his first year above 3.00 since 2018.

Bassitt, never one to shy away from speaking his mind, is one of the veteran leaders the young Blue Jays will lean on again in 2025. Heading into his age-36 season and the final year of his three-year, $63M contract, what version of Bassitt will we see after a disappointing 2024 campaign?

The Blue Jays will need him to revert back to the 2023 version of Chris Bassitt.