Bassitt: Injured ace returns to the park days after facial surgery.
OAKLAND >> Three days removed from facial surgery, A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt rejoined the A’s in Oakland motivated to pitch again this season and without “demons” in his head. Now he begins a cautious path forward to returning to the mound.
The A’s starter, 32, hasn’t watched the replay of Brian Goodwin’s line drive hitting his face and does not plan to. He doesn’t remember throwing the pitch. He doesn’t remember getting hit in the cheekbone — he came to in the ambulance with family and his trainer on the way to RUSH University Medical Center in Chicago.
“There’s probably a fivesecond spot that I don’t remember anything and honestly I think it’s a gift from God because I don’t want to remember it,” Bassitt said in a session with reporters Saturday. “I haven’t watched a replay of it, I’m not ever going to. The demons that could haunt you on the mound a little bit — I know I’m a little bit of a messedup individual, but I don’t have any concern about getting back on the mound.
“Obviously I went through something, but I haven’t lived it. I don’t remember it.”
On Tuesday, Bassitt had surgery to repair a tripod fracture on his right cheek incurred two weeks ago during his start against the Chicago White Sox. The surgery was performed by Dr. Peter Revenaugh at RUSH University and the expected timeline for the bones to recover is six weeks. He can open his right eye; his vision is clear.
“I didn’t have brain surgery or a brain injury, which is massive for me,” he said. “I can deal with some face pain and I can deal with some swelling and not looking too pretty, but I have to be here not only for the guys on the team, but me too.”
Bassitt said he is hoping to “get his life back to normal,” and called this a “life-altering moment.” Manager Bob Melvin said Bassitt has already outlined an ambitious plan to return to the mound.
“The doctors made a mistake in telling me I was going to be OK in a couple weeks. When they said that, I said OK, we’re rocking,” Bassitt said. “The front office and BoMel and Emo (pitching coach Scott Emerson) are going to do everything to take care of me. But if everything progresses the way it should, I want to be back before the end of the season and hopefully I am.”
Bassitt will need to be cautious, though. He will be shut down for the next few days to monitor eye pressure to prevent bleeding behind his right eye, he said. “We’re still in a sensitive area where I’m not allowed to do anything, but hopefully in the coming days you’ll see me doing a lot more baseball things.”