Orioles fans are worried about repeating unfortunate history with Chris Bassitt

Chris Bassitt's Baltimore Orioles debut did not go the way that either Bassitt or the Orioles would have hoped. He struggled with his command, taking turns missing the strike zone by wide margins, surrendering walks, and then serving up meatballs in the heart of the plate, resulting in hard contact. His outing was short and immediately reminded Orioles fans of what it was like to watch Charlie Morton toil through his costly Orioles tenure.

In his first inning as an Oriole, Bassitt was more unlucky than anything else, but he also created a share of his own misfortune with a wild throwing error that gave the Rangers an early lead. In the second inning, Bassitt's debut and Morton's first start as an Orioles began to look eerily similar.

Charlie Morton was on every Orioles fans mind as Chris Bassitt struggled against the Rangers

It's not just recency bias that brought Morton to the minds of Orioles fans as they watched Bassitt attempt to make his way through the Rangers' lineup. Everything leading up to Bassitt's debut was very similar as well.

Last offseason, the Orioles were tied to all the big free agents, especially Corbin Burnes, but when they failed to land any of the marquee free agents, they settled on Morton. Morton was billed as a seasoned veteran who would bring stability to the back of the Orioles rotation and pitch to a roughly 4.00 ERA, as he had in several of the years previous.

Similarly, this offseason the Orioles once again were tied to several big name free agents and once they failed to bring any of them home they pivoted to Chris Bassitt, who was brought in and hailed as a seasoned veteran who would bring stability to the back of the Orioles rotation and pitch to roughly a 4.00 ERA the way he did the last several years in Toronto.

Now, a rational mind can understand that just because the process of Bassitt ending up on the Orioles is identical to how Charlie Morton ended up on the Orioles, that doesn't mean they are literally the same person, BUT when he's 1.1 innings into the season, and he's already given up five hits and thee walks it's hard to be rational.

Morton's first start as an Oriole was 3.1 innings, 7 H, 1 BB, and 4 ER. Through 3.1 innings, Bassitt's line was 6 H, 3 BB, and 4 ER. It's not far apart. To Bassitt's credit, he did manage to make it through another inning before handing the game off to the Orioles bullpen, so his final line looks more respectable than Morton's first impression, but the overall impact was the same: the Orioles lost.

The Orioles would go on to lose the first 6 games Morton started and the first 12 games he pitched in. From the moment Bassitt takes the mound in his next start, Orioles fans are going to be on edge, nervous that the similarities between Morton and Bassitt will continue. A quality start would go a long way toward assuaging these concerns and getting the Orioles season back on track.