Why Chris Bassitt should be your new favorite Mets player

The New York Mets are off to a rousing start for the 2022 season. They made significant moves in the offseason to overhaul their roster. Some moves have been better than others but all have contributed to making this a very successful quarter of Mets baseball.

With this infusion of fresh faces in Queens, we start to see fans gravitate towards them in hopes of possibly finding their new favorite player. If you are struggling with choosing a favorite, let me help you out. Now I am not going to make this easy for you and choose Max Scherzer. That would be the easy way out. We all know how great he was before he put on the orange and blue uniform. I want you to dig deeper into the roster.

That’s why I think your new favorite Mets player should be Chris Bassitt.

Chris Bassitt came out of nowhere in a trade with the A’s during the offseason right after the lockout ended. We didn’t know much about him post-trade but we did see that he was a genuine tough guy. His tough streak comes from getting hit, in the head, by a line drive during a game against the Angels where he was stretchered out. What did he do after that you say? He only came back a month later and pitched well to boot.

His aura and personality just breathe New York. He is perfect for this city and that is a huge factor when it comes to bringing players over here. They need to be able to handle the spotlight and he sure has in more ways than one.

He has this bulldog, never give in mentality which, to be quite honest, I felt was lacking in last year’s team.

You already saw his impact in his first start as a Met against the Nationals in Washington. He is a battler and his postgame comments were very telling. He was asked about coming back from 3-0 to strike out Nationals superstar Juan Soto and Bassitt said, “I don’t care who you are, I’m coming after you. I don’t care about the name on the back of your jersey, I’m coming.”

That right there is what you want to hear. That right there shows that Bassitt fears no one no matter how great they may be, and he’s faced some great hitters.

In that same press conference, he discussed how the team is going to “grind you until you break.” This Mets team has been following that mantra all year and it is no wonder why Bassitt is at the forefront of it. 

He has become a genuine leader with Max Scherzer. You see videos of the both of them in the dugout with the other starters, especially the young ones, going over tape, mechanics, and recapping their outings. I don’t remember ever seeing that in the past. It truly is a beautiful sight.

I hope the Mets truly consider re-signing him as he will become a free agent in the offseason. His value to this team has skyrocketed not only on the mound but in the clubhouse.  Chris Bassitt is the type of player that any roster would want on their team and we should all be so lucky that we have him. 

If he stays and signs a contract extension, he may just become your new favorite Met!