This Blue Jays starter already looks much better this year

At 36 years old, Chris Bassitt is the oldest pitcher on the Toronto Blue Jays' roster, but that hasn't stopped him from having a strong start to 2025. And, if his hot start is any indication, it seems like he's put his tough 2024 season in the rearview mirror/

While Toronto's offense has been productive so far, their pitching has taken a much needed leap compared to last year, and Bassitt's definitely done his part to help with that.

He finished the 2024 season with a 4.16 ERA, a 10-14 record, and a walks-per-nine-innings (BB/9) of 3.7 — all of which were the highest marks of his full MLB seasons.

He wasn't necessarily bad last year but the Jays came into the year hoping for more out of him in a contract year. Lucky for them, the tides seem to be turning for the veteran right-hander.

In two starts so far this season, Bassitt has posted a 0.71 ERA, a 16/2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and has been worth 0.7 fWAR which is already an improvement on the -0.1 fWAR he posted in 2024.

It seems as though he's made some changes to his pitching tendencies, and these small differences add up to an increased level of success.

Pitch repertoire changes

His changeup, which hitters posted a .321 batting average against last season, has taken a backseat to his splitter in 2025 which has much more movement at approximately the same velocity. He's always relied on changing speeds to fool hitters, and it's been working pretty well for him so far.

Bassitt has consistently featured a slow curveball in his arsenal, and hitters are struggling to the tune of a .143 batting average and .074 slugging percentage against it this season. He also boasts whiff rates of over 40% on both his curveball and sweeper. Baseball Savant ranks his sweeper first in all of MLB in horizontal movement with nearly two feet of break.

It also has the most vertical drop of all MLB sweepers 2025, so it's safe to say it's a wipeout pitch.

One of the most interesting changes to Bassitt's pitch repertoire going into this season is a decrease in an already-diminished fastball velocity. After sitting at 92.5 MPH on average last year, his fastball velocity has dropped to just 91.3 MPH in 2025.

Hitters have a combined batting average of .129 against Bassitt's sinker, cutter, and 4-seam fastball, and he's been getting a ton of soft contract. But he's found a more efficient way to get hitters out: striking them out.

Quality starts against strong teams

Bassitt recording 16 strikeouts in 12 2/3 innings of work is a welcome sight for Blue Jays fans. His best start this season was against the Mets (his former team) on Saturday where he went 6 2/3 shutout innings with nine strikeouts against a tough lineup.

Not only is he striking out more batters than ever, he's also controlling the strike zone at an incredible rate. His walk rate has dipped to 3.9% after being at 9.2% in 2024.

It's also worth mentioning that he hasn't surrendered a home run yet either despite facing the Mets and Orioles in his two starts.

Bassitt is looking to return to his former All-Star form, and him being healthy and productive would be a huge boost to Toronto's rotation.

One starter's improvement won't make or break Toronto's season on its own, but in conjunction with better performances from the rest of the pitching staff the Blue Jays should be looking up.