Baltimore's rotation just got a lot more veteran. The Orioles announced Friday that they've reinstated Chris Bassitt from the 60-day injured list, and the 37-year-old right-hander is already penciled in to start tonight's series opener against the Rays.
Bassitt's been out since early June with a back issue that eventually required a procedure to remove a bone spur from his lumbar region — the kind of injury that can end a season for a guy in his late 30s, let alone just sideline him for 2 months. Instead, he worked his way back through 3 rehab starts at Triple-A Norfolk, allowing just 3 earned runs across 13 2/3 innings while striking out 12. That's about as clean a rehab stretch as you can ask for from a guy his age coming off back surgery.
This is Bassitt's first year in Baltimore after signing a 1-year, $18.5 million deal over the winter, capping a 12-year run that's included stops with the White Sox, Athletics, Mets and Blue Jays. He made an All-Star team in 2021 and finished 10th in AL Cy Young voting in 2023 after leading the league in wins and starts — a resume built on durability as much as raw stuff. Before the back issue shut him down, though, his 2026 had been rough: a 5.27 ERA and a career-low strikeout rate through 12 appearances, so the Orioles aren't just hoping for a healthy arm, they're hoping for a better version of the one they signed.
The timing matters. Baltimore sits 5 games under.500 but only 2 back of the final AL Wild Card spot in a division that's been owned by the Rays and Yankees, with the Red Sox lately joining the party. Bassitt's return bumps the rotation around — Kyle Bradish slides to Saturday and Trevor Rogers to Sunday — giving the O's a veteran presence to lean on if this thing actually turns into a race.
Whether Bassitt looks like the pitcher who made an All-Star team or the one who scuffled through the first 2 months of this season is the whole question now. Baltimore doesn't need him to be great every fifth day — it just needs him to be reliable while the rest of the roster figures out if it's a buyer or a seller down the stretch.