DUNEDIN, Fla. — Pick your new-beginnings cliche of choice — fresh start, clean slate, turning the page — and it applies to Bo Bichette this spring.
His thoroughly miserable 2024 included 81 games of struggle at the plate, a career-worst batting line of .225/.277/.322, two stints on the injured list due to a right calf strain and a middle finger fracture that required surgery to repair and prevented him from even attempting a positive-vibes finish.
Factor in a trying season, collectively, for the Toronto Blue Jays, a trade deadline sell-off that turned over the roster and his name surfacing in trade rumours, and, well, there was a lot to carry.
“When you reach a low point like I did last season, you realize that you’re still living and breathing and everything’s OK, so, honestly, I feel like myself again,” Bichette said, after batting practice on an unseasonably cool Florida morning. “The biggest thing is I feel like I have a clear mind. I’m able to go out here every day and try and get better, try to win when we play, so I feel good.”
The finger injury, “in a weird way” gave him an opportunity “to kind of relax and work through things in my head.” He broke down why things played out the way they did; decided on the issues, largely centred around bat path, he needed to address in the cage; and thought about ways to restore the mindset he needs to succeed on the field.
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On a macro level, last season’s struggles were rooted in “being a little bit locked up mentally, for a variety of reasons that I won’t get into.” Now with “a free mind,” he feels “back to being who I am, which is, I play free.”
“I’ve always done that,” he continued. “I’ve always gone up there and tried to hit the ball as hard as I can, trusting my work. Separating the cage from the game. It’s not going to feel that good every day, but you can compete every day and you can give your best every day.”
And so, that’s what he’s determined to do in this season of high stakes, for the Blue Jays as a group and for several players individually, most notably Bichette and fellow pending free agent Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The club’s inability to extend Guerrero long-term by the all-star first baseman’s deadline means the uncertainty that hovered around the Blue Jays throughout 2024 will be back in full force this year, too. In fact, the potential pivot point presented by the core’s expiring contractual control will only amplify that dynamic, as each slump will force the front office to consider how to best manage the asset value of its pending free agents.
Avoiding the noise for all players, not just Bichette, will be even more challenging.
“I feel like that’s some of the stuff I dealt with last year,” Bichette said. “There were things going on about me that I probably didn’t handle the best in terms of rumours and things like that. I’ve learned from that. This year, I really am just focused on being the best that I can be and winning every day. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, is come out here and compete at a high level and help my team win. I look forward to doing that.”
The better he does that, of course, the better he’ll be positioned for his next contract, be it from the Blue Jays or as a free agent. Bichette, who turns 27 on March 5, will be among the most talented players in a class that could be headlined by Guerrero and Kyle Tucker, and offensive shortstops are always highly coveted.
When he’s right at the plate, “he’s one of the most talented hitters” in the game, said manager John Schneider, and “watch out, basically,” is the way he described what that looks like.
“It’s quality of contact to all fields. Ridiculous ability to cover the zone,” he continued. “I’m looking at the intent in his swings. When I think of last year compared to his whole career, just looked like a little bit in between — am I going to take a shot, am I going to go back to my comfort zone? That bled into a couple of weeks at a time. …
“He’s used to looking up (at the scoreboard) and seeing .300 or with an 8-something OPS, so probably got into chasing some hits and just not being on the attack. When Bo is at his best, he’s on the attack.”
Bichette conceded that before the injuries hit last year, he fell into some “bad, bad habits” at the plate, with his bat path and rhythm front and centre.
Both of those elements are “everything, and I didn’t have much rhythm, I didn’t have a good bat path. Both those things will be better,” he said. “My swing will probably look different this year, but it will look more like a young Bo than anything.”
Bichette, of course, is only a year removed from the all-star campaign of 2023, when he batted .306/.339/.475, after leading the American League in hits during both the 2021 and 2022 seasons, which is why the Blue Jays, rightly, have so much faith in his return to form.
“There’s such a big sample size of him (performing), it’s not going to be hard to get back to,” said Schneider.
To help ensure he gets there, Bichette intends to play a lot more often this spring than he did last year, when he “kind of did the vet thing,” and lightened his pre-season workload. He was unsure about taking that approach at the time and is of the mind now that there’s no downside to “getting as many at-bats as you can,” ensuring he’s ready once it counts.
“I’ve always prided myself on being able to compete — no matter how my swing feels, no matter where my mind is at, I just focus on going competing my best and trying to win. And, to be honest, I didn’t do a great job of that last year,” he added. “I know there are definitely mechanical things that I had to clean up. But, to be honest, I didn’t compete at my best, that was the biggest thing.
“That’s pretty much the key for me to be a not just a good big-league player, but someone who is really good every year.”
Mind and body right in these uncertain Blue Jays times, Bichette is ready to prove he’s exactly that.
