Bassitt, Blue Jays’ veterans talk changes within clubhouse
Asked about his feelings on the current state of the team, the veteran opened up about how off-season conversations with the front office have resulted in a stronger clubhouse in 2025. It’s helped the club build a steady foundation in the clubhouse that they believe will only grow stronger.
TORONTO — Chris Bassitt doesn’t mince words. The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander is blunt and often speaks with refreshing candour during interviews.
And so, when Bassitt chatted with reporters following his start on Wednesday, some observers took notice.
Asked about his feelings on the current state of the team, the veteran opened up about how off-season conversations with the front office have resulted in a stronger clubhouse in 2025.
“For the first time since I’ve been here, I feel like everyone’s really, really comfortable with how everything’s working,” Bassitt said. “So, it’s just a fun feeling coming to the yard.”
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Manager John Schneider mentioned back in spring training that he noticed a change within the Blue Jays’ clubhouse. It showed up in the details, such as how players were communicating or the atmosphere on the team bus.
However, now, with over three weeks of the season complete and the Blue Jays holding a 12-9 record, that difference is coming into focus and players aren’t hesitant to call it out.
“We are in it maybe even more than we ever have been,” said right-hander Kevin Gausman. “We’re all on the same page and we’re just communicating better.”
“We’re playing as a team, completely,” added George Springer. “Everybody understands where we want to go and what we want to do.”
Deciphering the inner workings of a major-league clubhouse is a difficult task, even for players and personnel who spend much of their waking hours inside it. When things are going well, there’s usually a confluence of factors at play.
“The truth of it is you can’t really put your finger on one thing,” Bassitt told Sportsnet. “It’s just a whole bunch of little things that are all in the team’s best interest.”
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In the Blue Jays’ case, from Bassitt’s point of view, that includes: The contract extension for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the health of Bo Bichette, the additions of Andrés Giménez, Anthony Santander and Max Scherzer, the improvement of the bullpen and the starting pitchers committing to bettering themselves — think Bassitt refining his splitter over the winter or Gausman putting on weight to help his durability.
Add all that up and it’s helped create an atmosphere that makes players not only get excited to come to the ballpark but also show up early.
Bassitt, who’s played in parts of 11 big-league seasons with four teams, knows what it’s like to experience the opposite. The 36-year-old’s rookie campaign came in 2015 with the last-place Oakland Athletics.
“Every time I went to the ballpark, it was like a ‘How are you going to lose today?’ kind of thing,” he recalled. “It’s not fun going to the field.”
That same feeling crept up last year, too, says Bassitt. With the Blue Jays falling out of contention and then selling ahead of the July trade deadline, the final few months of the 2024 season became tough to stomach as the Blue Jays crept toward a last-place, 74-88 finish.
That led to a lot of complaining in the clubhouse.
“I think everyone had a hand in that,” says Bassitt. “We were obviously really bad and everyone was just complaining about the season. Everything just sucked.”
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A September without meaningful baseball was different than what the organization, and many of its veteran players, had come to expect over the past several years. That left a bitter taste.
“Everybody just honestly looked themselves in the mirror and went into the off-season trying to make themselves better,” said Gausman.
Added Springer: “Guys understand we obviously don’t ever want to go back to that.”
Bassitt, along with some veteran teammates, set out to enact change during the winter and that included conversations with the front office. He declined to go into specifics but did say that some of the discourse centred around the use of analytics.
“There’s so much data that gets thrown at us in this whole league,” said Bassitt, who also credited the Blue Jays front office for listening to the insight of players and being open to change. “There’s a lot of data that gets thrown at players that’s just completely pointless. Like, I can’t even use this or you’re throwing this data at me and you’re not even constructing this to me because it doesn’t even fit what I do.
“So, now, I know [Schneider] and everyone’s talked about it like, ‘We want you to be the best you.’ And that’s kind of what we just have changed. How do we get the best out of every single player?”
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Schneider was asked about the team’s use of data on Saturday afternoon and acknowledged the organizational change.
“I can say pretty confidently that we’ve arrived at a place where everyone’s opinion is heard and it’s not going to be cookie-cutter every single night,” said the manager. “And it’s nice to have that freedom. I think some teams don’t have that freedom. It’s cool to watch things unfold.”
That’s one change amid the many that have created a positive feeling inside the Blue Jays’ clubhouse. And so, here the club stands with what they believe is a steady foundation that will only grow stronger as the season progresses.
“I feel like we’re all heading in the same direction with the same goals, same level of focus,” said Gausman. “Listen, we’ve been pretty good since I’ve been here. If we can be the best that we’ve ever been since I’ve been here, that’d be great.
“And I feel like things are in the right alignment for that.”
