Blue Jays’ Bo Bichette trumps top talent to win award

Toronto Blue Jays teenage phenom Bo Bichette took down some elite company to win the Minor League Offensive Player of the Year award for 2017.

Bo Bichette added more hardware to his trophy case as he was named the MILB Offensive Player of the Year for his breakout campaign. Bichette beat out some tough company for the award as teammate Vladimir Gueerro Jr. along with Ronald Acuna, Rhys Hoskins, Ryan McMahon, Austin Hays, Scott Kingery, Christian Walker, Willie Calhoun and Fernando Tatis Jr. were all finalists for the honour.

Pretty impressive accolade for a kid that won’t turn 20 until March of next year, Bichette has also been nominated for the Breakout Prospect of the Year, however, the winner will not be announced until October 30th.

Bichette tore up both Lansing and Dunedin last season catapulting up every prospect rankings in North America. The shortstop slashed .362/.423/.565 with 14 home runs and 22 stolen bases in 29 attempts between the two levels. He notched 162 hits including 59 for extras bases in 110 games in 2017 while leading Dunedin to a league championship.

Incredibly in 132 professional games over the past two seasons, Bichette is hitting .372/.427/.591 with 197 hits, 50 doubles, 18 homers and 25 stolen bases. The 19-year old and teammate Vladdy Guerrero Jr. have become the dynamic teenage duo of minor league baseball as baseball enthusiasts north of the border are frothing at the mouth the see these two in action with the big club.

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The Dunedin Blue Jays were nominated for the Best Minor League team of 2017while the Blue Jays minor league organization is a finalist for Top Farm System. The winners will be unveiled at the beginning of November for those honors. Reliever Carlos Ramirez was in the running for the top reliever but lost to Gabriel Moya of the Twins.

The Blue Jays will surely be patient with the development fighting the urge not to rush both Bichette and Vladdy to the majors, however, New Hampshire appears to be a reasonable starting point for the duo come 2018.

Next: Blue Jays’ Justin Smoak snubbed in Gold Glove nominations

Congratulations on the award as you continue to prove that “Bo Knows Baseball.”