Genoa's Bassitt emotional after first career shutout

May 29—At age 32, it would appear that Genoa High School product Chris Bassitt has finally settled into a comfort zone as a top-tier Major League Baseball pitcher.

Perhaps that was part of the reason the Curtice native became emotional in the wake of his career-best performance for the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.

In a 5-0 A's win over the Los Angeles Angels, Bassitt yielded just two hits and a walk in a complete-game shutout. He struck out nine Los Angeles batters in his brilliant 114-pitch effort.

The only blemishes were a soft ground-ball single by Juan Lagares in the second inning, a walk to Shohei Ohtani in the fourth, and Justin Upton's double in the ninth.

It was the latest gem in a superb seven-game stretch of starts that has seen Bassitt go 4-0 with a 2.64 earned run average, allowing just 34 hits in 47 2/3 innings with 56 strikeouts and just six walks.

"I'm just trying to hold back tears right now," Bassitt said in a postgame interview Thursday night. "There's so many people in this organization that have stuck by my side through so much crap, and I'm just so grateful, honestly."

Following his finest moment to date as a pitcher, Bassitt appeared a bit overwhelmed by the emotion of arriving at this high perch at this stage of his life.

"There's so many people that pushed me when I was going through so much crap," Bassitt said. "Everyone just pushed me when I was struggling through so much stuff. I'm just grateful. I'm grateful to be here."

Bassitt's baseball journey after excelling for coach Danny Clayton with the Genoa Comets (2007 graduate) has been long and winding.

To arrive at such a plateau in his early 30s gives the perspective to the experience.

The hard-throwing 6-foot-5 right-hander posted a 2-5 record in the second of what was basically two seasons at the University of Akron (2009 and 2011), but showed enough potential to be chosen by the Chicago White Sox in the 16th round of the 2011 MLB draft.

In parts of eight minor-league seasons ranging from the low-A to Triple-A levels between 2011 and 2019, Bassitt had a combined 33-25 record with a 3.50 ERA, with 517 strikeouts in 530 1/3 innings.

But that period in the minors was mixed with shots in the majors, the first coming with the White Sox in 2014. He was traded to Oakland in 2015, and had pitched sporadically with the A's in six of the past seven seasons, missing 2017 after having Tommy John surgery in 2016.

Bassitt began to come into his own in 2019, when he was 10-5 in 25 starts for Oakland, posting a 3.81 ERA in 144 innings. He struck out 141 batters that year and walked 47.

Using his four reliable pitches (two- and four-seam fastballs, a slider, and a curve) Bassitt has mixed good location and ball movement with unpredictability while ascending to a spot as Oakland's clear-cut ace. At present, he has also become one of MLB's most effective starters.

In the abbreviated 2020 season, Bassitt received a few votes on the ballot for the American League Cy Young Award after going 5-2 in 11 starts with a 2.29 ERA in 63 innings, with 55 strikeouts and 17 walks.

His numbers through 11 starts this season pretty much mirror last year (5-2, 3.21, 70 IP, 74 strikeouts, 16 walks), providing evidence that Bassitt has indeed evolved into a consistent, established top-level MLB starter.

"He's just been pitching with a lot of confidence," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "He's using all his pitches, he's getting ahead in counts. It's soft contact. There's not a lot of hard contact off him. He's using all his stuff and he's unpredictable and he's pitching with a lot of confidence right now. It's probably the best stretch of his career."

Also impressed with Bassitt on Thursday was opposing manager Joe Maddon of the Angels.

"That kid there, I'm a big fan," Maddon said of Bassitt. "He's kind of like a [Max] Scherzer type, and he's got that little funk in his delivery — long arm. The variety of pitches that he throws, and he's good against righties and lefties. And, good carry on his fastball. Really good slider, cutter and that slow curve when he wants to."

Thursday's win was the first nine-inning complete game of Bassitt's 10-year professional career, and the first for an A's pitcher since Mike Fiers threw a no-hitter in May of 2019.

SOMETHING TO PONDER: Bassitt might be reaching this level of excellence in the nick of time with respect to the financial side of his career. Having earned a relatively modest — by baseball standards — $2.37 million through his first 10 years in the professional ranks, he signed a one-year contract for 2021 that pays him $4.9 million this season.

Should he continue at his present pace, he might be able to secure at least one big multi-year contract before his age makes him a more risky candidate to MLB teams.

First Published May 28, 2021, 3:50pm