Every child in America is now supposed to be above average. Every parent is supposed to raise his sons and daughters to be “leaders.” The empowerment motto is “you can have it all.”
In such a culture, considering yourself as a role player somehow sounds un-American. It is ill-fitting in this age to sacrifice one’s autonomy and individualism, see oneself as part of an institution, and ask, to borrow the wording of conservative intellectual Yuval Levin, What is my role, and what ought I do, given that role?
You will continue to find this self-sacrificial role-playing in a few corners of American culture, including baseball.
“Everyone’s role is basically different in … what they do,” New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt said after recording a win over the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 8. A reporter had asked Bassitt if he had come into the game looking to be extra efficient with his pitches, so as to save the relief pitchers’ arms following a tough series against the Atlanta Braves, last year’s World Series champions.
Really, Bassitt said, saving the relievers’ arms is his job every time he pitches. “My job is always that,” he said. “To eat innings. It’s not to punch guys out or anything like that. It’s just to eat innings. It was not a different game plan today. Just eat innings.”
“Inning eater” is nearly a pejorative in baseball. An inning eater is someone you don’t expect much from, except to make sure the other pitchers can save their arms. But here’s Chris Bassitt, the starting pitcher for the first-place New York Mets, recently an All-Star, who has accepted the role of “inning eater.”
To maximize his inning consumption, Bassitt excels in both efficiency and durability.
Minimizing pitches for Bassitt meant throwing sinkers in the strike zone — not chasing strikeouts, but trying to induce weak contact from the batters. As a result of keeping the ball in the zone, Bassitt got nine batters to ground out and gave up nine hits. He plowed through the first three innings on 30 pitches — the average inning in the majors takes 23 pitches, and 15-per-inning is considered a good pace.
Giving up singles. Preferring groundouts to strikeouts. That takes some humility — which comes easier when you are in the pitching rotation with two future Hall of Fame pitchers (Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer). Throwing 114 pitches takes something else. Only four major league pitchers this year average more pitches per game than Bassitt. Bassitt leads the Mets in innings pitched.
Efficiency times longevity means you pitch a lot of innings.
“I’ve done that for years,” Bassitt told reporters. “Genuinely I think that’s why they brought me over here. For that reason. I’m not afraid to go over 100 pitches. And it really doesn’t affect me.”
How do you throw so many pitches a game and not lose effectiveness, one reporter asked Bassitt after the Cincy start. “Work your butt off. That’s it.”
