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Athletics Reinstate Chris Bassitt From Injured List

By Steve Adams | September 23, 2021 at 11:10am CDT

TODAY: Bassitt has been officially reinstated from the injured list, the A’s announced.  Left-hander Sam Moll was moved to the paternity list to create roster space for Bassitt.  In another move, Oakland released the recently-DFA’ed Aramis Garcia.

TUESDAY, 7:34 pm: Bassitt will indeed start Thursday’s game against the Mariners, manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle).

9:43 am: As the Athletics try to keep their playoff hopes alive, they could receive a boost that looked unlikely just a few weeks ago. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweeted recently that the A’s are targeting Thursday for right-hander Chris Bassitt’s return to the club. Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News reported last night that Bassitt tossed a 30-pitch bullpen session yesterday — his fourth throwing session since being cleared to throw off a mound.

A return to the field for Bassitt would make for a feel-good moment regardless of any potential impact on the postseason race. The baseball world took a collective gasp when Bassitt was struck in the face by a 100 mph line-drive back on Aug. 17. The right-hander remained down on the field for several minutes as he was tended to by the medical staff. He was eventually carted off the field with a towel covering his face. Bassitt sustained multiple facial fractures that had to be stabilized via surgery, but he avoided a concussion and any damage to his vision or his eye.

It was a frightening scene that quite obviously called into question whether Bassitt would be able to return to the field at all in 2021. Immediate questions were more focused on his overall well-being, but just over a month later, he now remarkably appears to be on the cusp of pitching in a big league game again.

Manager Bob Melvin said last night (via Rubin) that the team isn’t sure what type of role Bassitt would have upon returning. Based on the length of his recent bullpen session and simulated games, it doesn’t seem likely that Bassitt would jump right back into the workhorse rotation role he’d held down prior to the injury. That said, he’s clearly stretched out enough to go multiple innings, so he could make some abbreviated starts down the stretch, serve as a scheduled long man behind an opener, or even just operate as a multi-inning bullpen option as the situation dictates.

Prior to his injury, the 32-year-old Bassitt was in the midst of a career year for the A’s. He’d made 24 starts, averaging just shy of 6 1/3 innings per outing and completing six frames in 17 of those 24 trips to the hill. Along the way, he’d notched an impressive 3.06 ERA with a strong 25.3 percent strikeout rate and an excellent 5.8 percent walk rate through a total of 150 innings. He’s still fourth on the A’s in terms of total innings pitched, trailing Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea and Cole Irvin.

It’s been a tough stretch for the A’s since the injury to Bassitt. The team is 14-16 in the 30 games without him, and Oakland starters have combined for a 4.47 ERA in his absence — ranking just 17th in the Majors during that stretch. That 4.47 mark is due almost entirely to the excellent work of Montas over his past six outings (1.89 ERA, 38 innings pitched). The A’s have leaned on Manaea, Irvin, Paul Blackburn and James Kaprielian to start the team’s remaining games, but each of them has an ERA of 4.94 or worse since Bassitt’s injury.

The A’s aren’t technically eliminated from winning the division just yet, although at seven games back, their chances of doing so are all but nonexistent. Oakland’s best path to the postseason will be to secure the second Wild Card spot in the American League. That spot currently belongs to the Blue Jays, who lead the Yankees by a half game, the A’s by two games and the Mariners by three games.

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25 Comments

  1. tstats

    4 years ago

    Good job Chris!!!

    1
    Reply
  2. WtfMate

    4 years ago

    Good to see!

    2
    Reply
  3. Fever Pitch Guy

    4 years ago

    Very good news!

    I was just a few rows behind the Sox dugout when Bryce Florie got nailed, I’ll never forget it. That effectively ended his career, hopefully Bassitt will have a different outcome especially with all his talent.

    1
    Reply
    • Curly Was The Smart Stooge

      4 years ago

      I had the misfortune to witness Pillar get hit in the middle of his face with a 97-98 mph fastball. Correct me fellow fans but I don’t think a replay of that was ever shown & it shouldn’t be. I’ve been watching baseball for 60+ years & I’ve never seen blood flow like that.
      I raise my glass to guys like Pillar, Bassitt, Harper & many others who have experienced this kind of injury (& on TV no less). It takes an immense amount of courage to get back on that horse again. Bravo!

      7
      Reply
      • Fever Pitch Guy

        4 years ago

        Also add Stanton to the list of brutally getting hit in the face by a ball.

        Not to downplay batters who got hit, but it’s much worse for a pitcher to get hit by a line drive. The ball is typically going around 115-120MPH off the bat, compared to the average 94 MPH fastball.

        3
        Reply
      • WtfMate

        4 years ago

        Paul Konerko took one to the cheek, stayed in the game and homered off of the same pitcher next at bat. In fairness, I think it was a breaking ball, so not 100mph to the face, but still not pleasant.

        5
        Reply
        • ChiSox_Fan

          4 years ago

          Don’t say “off of”…

          Reply
        • ChiSox_Fan

          4 years ago

          Konerko was a bloody mess.

          He and Abreu are true Sox leaders. Abreu often hit and keeps on going like the Ever-ready Bunny!

          1
          Reply
        • SplitFingeredPujol

          4 years ago

          It was a fastball. Luckily for him not a fire baller to it was Carl Pavano. I don’t want to take away from it though, konerko was as tough as baseball players come. He could have been a hockey player.

          Reply
    • Buzz Saw

      4 years ago

      I remember Robby Thompson getting hit in the face by a high 90’s fastball from Trevor Hoffman. J.T Snow got hit in the arm and face by a 97 MPH from Randy Johnson

      sfgate.com/news/article/10-major-league-careers-al…

      Reply
  4. HalosHeavenJJ

    4 years ago

    Great for him.

    Reply
  5. jessaumodesto

    4 years ago

    Fighting hard to just barely miss the playoffs. At least we got Marte and have hope next year when he’s great?

    Reply
    • zacharydmanprin

      4 years ago

      Marte is a free agent at the end of the season.

      1
      Reply
      • jessaumodesto

        4 years ago

        I know.

        Reply
  6. SplitFingeredPujol

    4 years ago

    Wh. Sox fan here so saw this live. I really thought it might be life altering for him when it happened. To hear he’s close to returning is great news. Can’t imagine what his family must have thought when watching. Anyways, good for him.

    3
    Reply
    • hyraxwithaflamethrower

      4 years ago

      White Sox fan and I was watching that game, too. I kept thinking of how Morneau was off for years after getting hit by a pitch. Really hope he returns strong, but it has to be good for him and the team just to have him out there again. One of the scariest things I’ve seen in baseball over 30 years of watching.

      Reply
      • SplitFingeredPujol

        4 years ago

        Morneau took an Aaron hill knee to the head that ruined his career, not a hbp. But the point remains true. Doesn’t always take much.

        Reply
  7. golfernut

    4 years ago

    Great news, he was very determined.

    Reply
  8. Johnny Boy

    4 years ago

    Glad he has recovered this quickly. Maybe he will help revive our chances of making the playoffs this Thursday!!!

    Reply
  9. case

    4 years ago

    Bullpen would be a great spot for him, hopefully his recovery went well and we can both reduce his innings and see him in games more often.

    Reply
  10. Spare Tire Dixon

    4 years ago

    Awesome. Whether they get back to that wildcard mix or not, it’s great to see Bassitt make it back this season

    Reply
  11. oaklandfan22

    4 years ago

    This is great to see but why even rush him back at this point? The season is over, get ready for next season, see no point in this.

    1
    Reply
    • houkenflouken

      4 years ago

      Some could say building his innings up would be getting ready for next season.

      Reply
  12. Gk_holiday

    4 years ago

    I thought Seattle was ahead of Oakland.

    Reply
  13. GarryHarris

    4 years ago

    Dickie Thon – Mike Torrez was the worst I saw.

    Reply

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