Meet The New Guys: Anthony Bass

Anthony Bass is a 32 year old right handed reliever. Bass was acquired off waivers during the offseason after surprisingly being released by the Mariners following a strong 2019 campaign. At the time of the acquisition, Bass seemed like a fairly insignificant addition, but after an offseason of losing bullpen arms left and right, he has since become a critical part of the team.

Bass made his MLB debut at age 23 with the Padres in 2011, but despite the large role, struggled for the most part. By 2016, Bass was pitching in Japan, attempting to prove himself with the innings he was no longer getting in the MLB. He managed to latch on with the Rangers in 2017, but only appeared in two games. It recently came out however that one of those games was against the (cheating) Astros, who absolutely teed off against him in a game where the trash can was audibly in use. Luckily he was given another opportunity in 2018 with the Cubs, where he played extremely well in his small sample size.

Over 15.1 innings with the Cubs, Bass held a 2.93 ERA with the team. 2019 was yet again a strong season, this time appearing in a career high 44 games while holding a solid 3.56 ERA with a WHIP under 1.000 (0.979). Bass struck out 8.1 on average over 9 innings, but the real impressive stat lies in his home run numbers. Bass only gave up 0.9 HR/9, giving up a total of 5 home runs on the year. With Toronto known as a hitter friendly ballpark with home runs a commonality, this is an extremely important skill in a bullpen arm for the Jays.

Following the departures of Jason Adam, Justin Shafer, Ryan Tepera, Derek Law, and others, Bass has become a critical piece to a rather weak area of the team. He is expected to crack the team in the 8th inning setup role, and is as close as it gets to being a lock on the team. With a moderate spring under his belt, and few other options for Toronto to turn to, he is a guy who will become rather well known on the bump this season.