The Baltimore Orioles provided an update on right-hander Chris Bassitt.
The Baltimore Orioles had a busy offseason this past winter, and now past the midway point, some of those moves are looking solid while others are not.
One of the most disappointing additions this year has been right-hander Chris Bassitt. The 37-year-old veteran was brought in on a one-year, $18.5 million deal to help make the starting rotation a truly dominant group.
He has failed to deliver on that promise. Across 12 appearances, Bassitt struck out just 37 hitters over 56 1/3 innings while posting a 5.27 ERA, which would be the worst mark of his career since 2016 with the Athletics if the season ended today.
To make matters worse, Bassitt has not pitched since June 3, when he exited a start against the Boston Red Sox with lower back tightness. An MRI revealed he needed surgery to remove a bone spur in his back, and he has not resumed baseball activities since. However, that is finally going to change.
"Orioles' Chris Bassitt (back surgery) is scheduled to begin his mound progression this week, the team announced," reported Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun.
With Bassitt finally taking a step forward after six weeks away, he will need to build up before the Orioles consider bringing him back to the big-league club.
Pitchers returning from back surgery typically require several weeks of ramping up before they are ready to handle a full starter's workload, and Baltimore will not want to rush that process and risk a setback.
Time is not on his side either, with August approaching. If he does make it back, he will need to make an immediate impact with whatever runway remains in the regular season.
Whether he can actually make that impact remains an open question. His numbers before the surgery were hard to watch, and it is unclear how much of that was related to pitching through discomfort versus genuine decline due to age.
If the surgery truly addressed the root of the problem, there is reason to believe a healthier Bassitt could look more like the reliable arm the Orioles envisioned when they signed him this offseason.
It also depends heavily on where Baltimore stands when he returns. The Orioles are hovering around the .500 mark, still unclear on whether they will buy or sell at the deadline. If they remain in the wild card race, Bassitt will be pushed back to the mound as quickly as safely possible. If they fall out of contention entirely, the urgency around his return changes considerably.
