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‘One of the best pitchers of all time’: Bassitt sees Scherzer elevating Blue Jays
When pitchers and catchers report to spring training for the Toronto Blue Jays on Feb. 13, Max Scherzer will be starting his 18th big-league season with his seventh different franchise. But he won’t be flying blind joining his new organization, thanks to old-but-new-again teammate Chris Bassitt.
When pitchers and catchers report to spring training for the Toronto Blue Jays on Feb. 13, Max Scherzer will be starting his 18th big-league season with his seventh different franchise. But he won’t be flying blind joining his new organization, thanks to former-but-new-again teammate Chris Bassitt.
The two veteran right-handers made up 40 per cent of the 101-win New York Mets’ rotation in 2022, becoming friends during Bassitt’s lone season in Queens.
So, as the Blue Jays pursued Scherzer, eventually landing the three-time Cy Young winner on a reported one-year, $15.5 million contract, it only made sense for Bassitt to be a part of selling Scherzer on Toronto.
“I would definitely give all the credit to the front office,” Bassitt said during an appearance on the JD Bunkis Podcast Friday morning. “But I mean, the reality is, me and Max are good friends, and (I) obviously put in a good word of just telling him how good Toronto is, so to speak.
“So I guess I was somewhat part of it, but in the matter of just telling the truth of how Toronto is, how good it is, how great they take of families and how great Pete Walker is as a pitching coach and things like that.”
Coming off a season in which Scherzer threw 43.1 innings and struck out 40 batters for the Texas Rangers, the Blue Jays will be leaning on their recent success in keeping major-league starters — like Bassitt — healthy and effective.
In return, obviously, Toronto’s main hope in landing the future Hall of Famer will be on-field results. But with two World Series championships and nearly two decades of dominance under his belt, any knowledge or experience Scherzer can spread across the Blue Jays’ roster will come as an added bonus.
“I understand the intangibles that don’t really get shown on the field, but especially off the field, and being able to push people and being able to help people, Max is one of the best pitchers of all time,” Bassitt said.
“I think what he’s going to be able to bring, to not just the starters, but to the pitching staff and the pitching coaches and things like that, his knowledge is going to really, really help us.”
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In building one of the most impressive résumés of any starter in the modern era, Scherzer has established himself as one of the most ferocious competitors in the sport.
It’s the intensity and the level of preparation he brings with him to the mound that has allowed him to pitch for 17 seasons at such a high level. Scherzer enters 2025 11th on the all-time strikeout list with 3,407 punchouts and 122 innings from 3,000 — rarefied air for pitchers whose careers began in the 21st century.
“He has the ability to retain information at a level that I just don’t think is possible for most players,” Bassit said of Scherzer’s preparation level. “I just think if you gave most players the information that he has, that he gets, I think it would overwhelm the majority of players. But he’s able to understand the ins and outs of every situation.”
Despite last year’s “beyond frustrating” season, as Bassitt described 2024, Scherzer picking Toronto speaks to how the eight-time All-Star might view the team’s chances of bouncing back in 2025.
“I think that’s a very, very big thing for him at this time of his career, is just to win championships,” Bassitt said. “That’s all he’s kind of interested in.
The 40-year-old Scherzer is just more than a calendar year removed from helping the Rangers claim the first World Series title in franchise history. A post-season run that saw him start in Game 7 of the ALCS and Game 3 of the Fall Classic. The deal that sent him from New York to Texas ahead of the 2023 trade deadline was part of the now 40-year-old’s desire to continue to pitch on baseball’s biggest stage.
Scherzer now joins Anthony Santander, Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Andrés Giménez and Nick Sandlin as the Blue Jays’ most significant off-season additions. Acquisitions Bassitt called “the correct moves to be really competitive this year.”
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Since the news of the signing came down Thursday afternoon, Bassitt has already gotten to work in building bridges between his rotation-mates and Scherzer to ensure that the Blue Jays hit the ground running at spring training.
“I’ve already talked to (Kevin Gausman), and I’ve already talked to a lot of the starters. I’ve talked to a lot of the bullpen guys already (about) just kind of how to handle Max,” Bassitt said with a laugh. “Obviously, Max is extremely fiery. So, just how to make our team mesh as great as possible… I think we’re going to be a really close group a lot faster, just because me and Max are already friends.”
