Chris Bassitt shows nothing but class when commenting on final start of 2024

By now, followers of the Toronto Blue Jays are intimately familiar with Chris Bassitt and the level of class he always shows to those around him. The right-hander is wrapping up his second season on the Blue Jays and has already made quite the mark on the organization and in the community - primarily with his charitable contributions in the "Bassitts Pitch In" movement.

Things haven't exactly gone according to plan for Bassitt this year on the mound. The 10-year veteran has maintained his reputation as a durable starter who will take the mound every fifth day and rarely miss a start, but the numbers haven't really been there for him. After posting an AL-leading 16 wins in 2023 with a 3.60 ERA and 200 innings on the dot, his numbers have regressed quite a bit this year.

Bassitt is 10-14 with a 4.16 ERA, 4.08 FIP and 97 ERA+ through 31 starts and 171 innings. He's not the innings-eater he was last year, his walks are up and he's allowing nearly two more hits per nine innings.

It'd make sense if the Blue Jays, or even Bassitt himself, opted to skip his last start of the year, which would fall on Sunday, the season finale. It's a long season and if the Jays would rather give a prospect a shot or just roll with a bullpen game in Game 162, you could hardly blame them. Bassitt, when asked about this by the media, gave a response that only he would; showing nothing but class.

This was all brought on by the fact that, as of right now, the Blue Jays don't officially have a starting pitcher listed for Sunday's game. If the plan was for Bassitt to make his scheduled start, you'd think it'd be advertised as such.

Opting to take the mound instead of exposing his teammates to a bullpen game is a classy move by Bassitt, who will continue to be a bulldog on and off the field until the day he hangs up his spikes. He's a gamer and a pro's pro. Since the 2024 season is already completely lost, why not just let him take the mound one more time and see if he can improve some of his numbers that have dipped from last year?