DUNEDIN, FLA. -- Good rotations have a horse. Great rotations have a herd.
The Blue Jays’ top four starters gave them 742 1/3 innings in 2023. It was a remarkable number, more than any quartet in baseball. This group deserved so much more than the ending we remember, but as they fit Alek Manoah for a new harness to help pull this carriage again, the Blue Jays’ rotation wants to be bigger, better, stronger.
“There’s no reason for us not to be a lot better than last year,” Chris Bassitt said. “We’re all confident and we’re all healthy. We’re not trying to fix people. We’re all comfortable and confident in each other’s games and what we do. We’re in a great spot to start. I can’t say we were in this same spot last year. That’s why I think we should be a lot better this year.”
A year ago, Bassitt was the new guy. He was brought to town to eat valuable innings behind the ace, Manoah, and the often-dominant Kevin Gausman. It was a rotation that needed some stability after José Berríos shocked the baseball world by going from one of its most consistent starters to a 5.23 ERA and Yusei Kikuchi’s debut season brought more headaches than help.
It feels more like an alternate reality than a Spring Training camp that broke 11 months ago.
Listen to the veterans describe this rotation’s success and it sounds like they’re describing a good marriage. The foundation of this group isn’t built on talent, training or the sprinkle of luck necessary to these things working, though they all play a role. It’s about trust, honesty and communication.
“We can ping-pong from start to start and say, ‘Hey, I can only throw 80 pitches today because I’m a little sore, or I can throw 115 today because I’m feeling really good,’” Bassitt said. “So much goes on behind the scenes with [pitching coach] Pete [Walker] and the coaching staff about understanding where we are all at physically. If one main guy is the workhorse, then he can’t be the workhorse [anymore]? That throws you for an absolute loop. The fact that we basically have five guys who can do it makes it so much easier to take a so-called ‘easy day.’”
Bassitt has that extra gear, that ability to decide on 100-plus pitches before the game even begins and gut his way through it. He did that 13 times in 2023, understanding when the bullpen needed a breather or the next day’s starter doesn’t have a full tank. That’s what turns this rotation into a living, breathing entity of its own, not just a collection of five guys who happened to sign with the same company.
This is how a “culture” actually develops. It’s a buzz word that you hear 1,000 times a season but rarely see in action because it can’t be forced or created out of artificial elements. It needs to happen organically and be driven by the people who stand in the middle of it all. It’s also how an identity is born. The Blue Jays’ rotation doesn’t just lean on “stuff” and hope for the best.
“It’s a big thing about learning how to pitch, not worrying about what the iPad or the Trackman says,” Bassitt said. “You have to understand, from a pitching standpoint, what hitters are trying to do to you and not so much just your stuff and how nasty you can be. We do an incredible job, especially with Pete running the ship, Jeff [Ware], all of those guys, of preaching the exact opposite of what I think baseball does. It tries to make the nastiest pitchers we can and hope they know how to pitch. We kind of go the exact opposite way. We teach you how to pitch and then hope you have nasty stuff.”
That’s something that No. 1 prospect Ricky Tiedemann has taken to heart, saying earlier in camp that he pitched “like a closer” last season. Now, he wants to walk the same path these veteran starters have charted out for him. Striking out the side is cool, but dominating for 180 innings is cooler.
It gets you paid, too. Just look at those contracts in the Blue Jays’ rotation.
Another 742 1/3 innings from the top four isn’t likely, but with Manoah attempting to write a comeback story and Tiedemann, Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodriguez in the stable, the horses might have some help.