Examining Chris Bassitt’s role with the Blue Jays if he returns
Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Nov 22, 2025, 19:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 22, 2025, 18:52 EST
The Toronto Blue Jays have a handful of free agents who have yet to sign.
Bo Bichette is the best of the bunch, but the Blue Jays’ rotation is also full of question marks. That’s because two starters, Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer, have yet to re-sign, leaving just a combination of Eric Lauer, Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, and Shane Bieber in the mix to start.
Bassitt is a curious case because if the Jays look to re-sign him, there are two different ways that they can deploy him next season.
What role does Chris Bassitt fill if he re-signs?
Last season, Bassitt made 31 starts, finishing the season with a 3.99 ERA and 4.03 FIP in 169.1 innings pitched as a starter. He pitched the second-most innings on the team, only behind Gausman’s 193 innings and slightly ahead of Berríos’ 164 innings.
Bassitt started his season off strong, authoring a 2.98 ERA and 3.19 FIP in his first 51.1 innings pitched, or his first nine starts. One of those starts saw him strike out 10 batters, giving him a 24.9 K% at the time, well above his career 22 K%. Byt the end of the season, Bassitt was around his career norms, minus an increase in his ERA.
The veteran right-handed pitcher had some rough outings here and there, including allowing six runs in two and one-third innings, as well as eight earned runs in two innings. That said, he was rather consistent through the season in giving the Jays five or more innings, doing so 26 times in 31 starts. He had a strong April (2.62 ERA) and a strong September (2.66) to give him a solid season.
One area of concern throughout the season was his road and home splits. For the season, Bassitt pitched 93 innings at home, posting a respectable 2.71 ERA and 3.34 FIP, while his road ERA sat at 5.47 and his road FIP at 4.45 in 77.1 innings pitched. Funnily enough, the five games that he wasn’t able to give the Jays five or more innings all came on the road.
Two of those games, the ones already mentioned, saw him give up 14 earned runs in just 4.1 innings of work. When removing those two games from all 15 of his road starts, Bassitt has a much more respectable 4.07 ERA on the road.
Simply put, Bassitt was a good backend-of-the-rotation starter, and likely will be the same in 2026. However, the Jays need to improve their rotation by adding, at worst, a middle-of-the-rotation starter, so their attention may turn elsewhere.
If that’s the case, there’s still a pathway to keeping Bassitt. After not being named to the Jays’ American League Divisional Series roster, Bassitt returned to pitch in the American League Championship roster as a reliever.
Bassitt had a strong postseason. He appeared in seven games and quickly became a high-leverage reliever, posting a 1.04 ERA and 1.52 FIP in 8.2 innings pitched. More importantly, he gave up just three hits, one earned run, and two walks, while striking out 10 to give him a 33.3 K%. A reason for the success is that Bassitt’s velocity on his fastball ticked up, reaching a tick under 95 mph.
Still, it’s hard to see Bassitt move to a bullpen role as he still has a lot to offer in the rotation. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the 36-year-old this off-season.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.