Two seasons ago, Blue Jays fans saw a Robbie Ray breakthrough, which led the AL in Strikeouts and Innings Pitched (IP), earning him 2021 AL Cy Young honours. That offseason, Ray left the Blue Jays, signing a massive five-year deal worth $115 million with the Seattle Mariners, leaving a small (yet, large) hole in the pitching rotation last season. This past offseason, the plan from management was to land a pitcher who can eat innings–and they did that by signing Chris Bassitt to a three-year 63 million dollar deal.

Last season, Bassitt finished in the top 15 in the NL with over 180 IP, winning 15 of his 30 starts on the mound for the New York Mets. And like Ray, Bassitt also has a solid rising fastball with deceptive offspeed breaking pitches that catch many hitters by surprise.

Bassitt is currently listed as the #3 in the Opening Day rotation, but his ability to stay healthy and eat innings could separate the Blue Jays starting pitching from its AL East counterparts.

In his eight seasons, Bassitt has started more than 25 games only on three occasions, and the Jays will need the 34-year-old pitcher to start between 24 and 30 games for his value to start paying its dividends.

https://twitter.com/RTPiersall/status/1556830725068017664

The Blue Jays bullpen was clearly overworked near the end of last season, and the acquisition of Bassitt will hope to aid in relief the same way Ray did in 2021.

Bassitt will make his first for the Blue Jays on Sunday, April 2nd, in the final game of a three-game opener against the St Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.