Royals v. Athletics Pitching Matchups Preview

Saturday: RHP Chris Young (0-2, 7.45) v. Chris Bassitt (0-0, 2.92 ERA)

Chris Bassitt is one of the first pitchers I’ve ever written about that I have a general knowledge of what he does.

Bassitt has been around since 2013, and is one of the rare pitchers that has seen a progressive increase in velocity since he joined the league, rather than a plateaued or decrease.

Yes, it’s not really all that progressive, but you get the point.

His whiff numbers have been very erratic, but he has at times gotten some swings and misses with his fastball.

However, he makes his living on getting hitters to beat the ball into the ground. Specifically with his sinker, that has generated more ground balls so far this season than it has in the past.

Bassitt figures to not be a fantastic matchup for the Royals, who have historically struggled to hit the ball in the air and have had some issues against sinker-ballers. This game might be a BABIP-fest though, if we know anything about the Royals

Opposite of Bassitt is Chris Young, who is coming off of a very predictable rough start in Houston.

This matchup will be much more favorable for Young, pitching in a pretty spacious Oakland ball park against a team that doesn’t walk a lot and has one of the lowest home runs per fly ball ratios in baseball.

Must-See Matchup – Chris Bassitt v. Mike Moustakas

Mike Moustakas is a notorious sinker hitter, hitting a higher percentage of home runs against sinkers than any other pitch he faces.

He is also knocking the crap out of the ball so far this season, with an average exit velocity of just over 96 MPH in 2016.

If Bassitt can keep Moustakas from elevating his pitches, it’ll be a long weekend for Moustakas, and that is what Bassitt has done for much of his career.

However, Moustakas has been very successful at not hitting sinkers on the ground.

Next: Can The Royals Solve Gray?