The Orioles have reinstated righty Chris Bassitt from the 60-day injured list, per a club announcement. Baltimore had an open 40-man spot, so the O’s only needed to free up a spot on the 26-man roster for Bassitt. That was accomplished by optioning right-handed reliever Yaramil Hiraldo to Triple-A Norfolk.
Bassitt, 37, has been out since June 3 due to a back issue that required a procedure to remove a bone spur from his lumbar region. He made a trio of minor league rehab starts and held opponents to three earned runs in 13 2/3 innings while punching out 12. The veteran righty is now slated to take the ball for the Orioles tonight in their series opener against the Rays. That’ll push Kyle Bradish back to Saturday and Trevor Rogers to Sunday.
Signed to a one-year, $18.5MM deal in free agency last winter, Bassitt has fallen shy of expectations. He’s been one of the steadiest starting pitchers in the game over the past seven seasons, ranking sixth in games started (188) and seventh in innings pitched (1087 1/3) — all while pitching to a 3.60 ERA. Bassitt never turned in a single-season ERA higher than 4.16 in that span.
Perhaps due to the back troubles, this year hasn’t been anywhere near that level. Bassitt made 12 appearances prior to his IL placement (two behind an opener) and posted a 5.27 ERA with a career-low 14.2% strikeout rate. His 8.4% walk rate was better than average but still the second-highest mark he’s posted since cementing himself as a major league starter. During that 2019-25 stretch, he sat at 7.3% and turned in a sub-7% mark on three occasions. The 91.9 mph average on Bassitt’s sinker was actually a slight bit better than its 2025 mark (91.6 mph) but is down from the 92.6 mph he averaged in the preceding six seasons. He’s gotten fewer whiffs and chases than in seasons past, too.
Bassitt has had some tough luck in terms of balls in play this year. He’s sporting a .340 BABIP that’s nearly 50 points higher than his career .294 mark. That isn’t due to a radical improvement in his opponents’ quality of contact, either. To the contrary, this year’s 87.4 mph average exit velocity, 4.1% barrel rate and 34.5% hard-hit rate are all strong showings. He’s never posted a barrel rate this low, and the exit velo and hard-hit marks aren’t far off his career-best numbers. The lack of missed bats is a problem, but Bassitt’s ERA probably ought to be a bit lower than 5.00 based on his command and the glut of weak contact he’s induced.
Bassitt returns to a much different roster than the one he left. The rotation core is largely the same — he’ll join Bradish, Rogers, Shane Baz and Brandon Young in the rotation — but Baltimore sold off several veterans ahead of the deadline. Adley Rutschman is the headline name there, but president of baseball ops Mike Elias also moved Taylor Ward, Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer in a series of sell-side moves that brought back prospects to restock the farm system.
If Bassitt looks like his typical self down the stretch, he’ll be a big boost to an Orioles club that’s still within striking distance in a mediocre AL Wild Card chase. The O’s are five games under .500 but only two back of the final Wild Card spot in a top-heavy league that’s been dominated by the Rays, Yankees and (recently anyway) Red Sox. It’d also improve his position as he heads back to the free-agent market this winter ahead of his age-38 season
