Chris Bassitt continued to be one of the most consistent pitchers on the Athletics' staff during the 5-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Thursday at Globe Life Park.
His slider had an uptick in velocity. Well, what used to be his slider.
“It was a complete different pitch,” Bassitt said after the game.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
In seven innings, Bassitt struck out four, walking three giving up just one earned run.
“I pretty much took the cutter to righties and [Gary] Sanchez from the Yankees hit a home run off that, and we’ve been looking and analyzing my cutter to righties for quite some time now and it’s toying with disaster almost every time I throw it,” Bassitt said.
Bassitt added the A’s decided to “get rid of it,” and while it’s still technically called a cutter, it stays true to a slider. The grip was the same as what his slider had in 2014, but he kind of lost it. He had been working on this pitch behind the scenes.
Thursday felt like the perfect day to break it out.
This new pitch only will add to Bassitt's arsenal that possesses a long, slow curveball and a variety of movement on his fastballs, like so:
“I have the really slow one too, but yeah just more so, there’s no reason for me to throw the cutter that I had before just because I backed it up all the time,” Bassitt said.
RELATED: MLB unveils unique new uniforms for 2021 All-Star Game
Athletics
Find the latest Athletics news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
Bassitt added when he would back up the cutter to left-handed hitters, he doesn’t get a beat on it, and when he threw it to righties, it’s a really good pitch to hit. Changing up the grip on that pitch is what ultimately helped to get his eighth win of the season.
“I think it’s going to be a really good pitch for me down the stretch, but we’re still toying with the speed, we’re toying with the shape of it, but yeah, we’re just working on it,” Bassitt said.