“Let’s move on” – Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt exchanges apologies with umpire after missed third strike call
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Chris Bassitt
New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt and plate umpire Chad Fairchild extended apologies to each other on Monday night in a rare player-umpire exchange after an apparent missed call. Earlier, Bassitt and his Mets teammates started heading to the dugout in the fifth inning after what the former thought was a called third strike against Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson.
Following this, the Mets escaped the inning unharmed, as the Ohio native Bassitt retired Matt Olson on a popout after walking Swanson and hitting Ronald Acuna Jr. with a pitch.
“I knew it was a strike, but at the same time, I think umpires have one of the hardest jobs in the world,” Bassitt said, as quoted by MLB.com. “I have no problem if an umpire misses a call. That happens. But especially if an umpire just accepts that, well, what am I going to say? It is what it is. I say all the time that it was a strike, and then I go back and look at it, and they’re right. So I ain’t going to be mad at no umpire, I’ll tell you that.”
“I enjoy when the home-plate umpire checks me”
Sharing an update on the bizarre incident during the Mets-Braves Major League Baseball (MLB) game, the 33-year-old apologized to Fairchild, believing his strut off the mound constituted “showing him up.”
“He said he was wrong. I said I was wrong,” Bassitt said. “I was like, ‘All right. Let’s move on.’”
“You can kind of have a human element without the cameras being on you,” Bassitt said. “I enjoy when the home-plate umpire checks me, because I can talk with them almost off the record. I would say umpires are really good at admitting stuff, and they’re way better than I think people give them credit for.”
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