There’s a goofy-ass nickname for Chris Bassitt’s curveball

Move over, Turkey Sub. There’s another weird nickname for an A’s curveball in town. 

Following Chris Bassitt’s latest Cactus League outing on Saturday, A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson shared a hilarious nickname for C-Bass’ big, sweeping curveball.

“I call it Mr. Bloopy,” Emerson said.

Emerson says he calls Bassitt’s big curveball “Mr. Bloopy” 😂 pic.twitter.com/73tWd9AA7L

— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) March 21, 2021

Mr. Bloopy?! Lmao.

Emerson, or “Emo” as he’s known, seems like a hilarious coach. His comments were part of a bigger conversation about Bassitt’s offspeed stuff, as he is trying to incorporate a Sergio Romo-influenced slider to compliment his sinker, cutter, 4-seamer and changeup.

“Any time you can develop another pitch, it’s just something in the toolbar that gives him a different look,” Emerson said. “It’s a different shape pitch about his curveball, obviously, it’ll compliment one, the sinker, that’s going to his arm side, the slider’s going to his glove side. Then he’s got that cutter. 

“Then he’s got that — I call it Mr. Bloopy — shows up, and he throws that big, blooping curveball. The change of speeds is good and then the shapes of the pitches are always funky to look at, too.”

Bassitt said he didn’t want to bust out his entire bag of tricks playing against his divisional foes from the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, though.

“I threw [the slider] a couple times today but I didn’t really want to show Mike Trout and those guys that at all,” Bassitt said. “I didn’t throw it a ton. I threw it a couple times and I liked it. We’re still working on it and I think it’s going to be a great weapon for me this year.”

So far this spring Bassitt has thrown 10.1 innings, allowing two earned runs with 12 strikeouts, two walks and seven hits allowed. He remains a top candidate along with Jesus Luzardo to be the A’s opening day starter.

Luzardo talks about the origins of the Turkey Sub 🦃 pic.twitter.com/e1VFef9s34

— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) March 11, 2021

Luzardo has busted out a 65 mph curveball called a “Turkey Sub” this spring, so it’s just a matter of time before we hear about some goofy-ass nickname for Frankie Montas’ splitter.