Blue Jays Quick Hits: Bichette, Grichuk and Barnes

Blue Jays news and notes from the week of May 14th, 2018, including an update on the representation of a top prospect and the return of one of the team’s most successful middle relievers.

Bo Bichette Changes Agencies

According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, prospect Bo Bichette has changed his representative agency to CAA Baseball. Bichette has thus far put together an impressive season at Double-A New Hampshire, slashing .279/.353/.421 with one homer and nine stolen bases.

CAA Baseball, which has offices all around North America, represents many notable major leaguers, including Yoenis Cespedes, Jean Segura, Jacob deGrom, Adam Jones, Buster Posey and Todd Frazier. Bichette is just 20 years-old and is currently the 8th best prospect in baseball, according to Baseball America.

Grichuk Begins Working Out

Struggling right-fielder Randal Grichuk has started to run again following a knee injury that sent him to the disabled list. Davidi notes that Grichuk has also been doing some light outfield work, and he’ll be re-evaluated for some rehab games later this week. This report was released on Tuesday, May 15th.

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It is assumed that Grichuk will play some games with the Dunedin Blue Jays before returning to the team. When he went on the DL on April 30th, his original timeline to return was three weeks. At this point, it’s possible he could be ready to rejoin the team before the end of May.

Barnes Back in the Bigs

Right-handed flamethrower Danny Barnes, who spent a short time in the minors following a string of heavy games, is back with the Jays.

Thus far, Barnes has appeared in just one game since being recalled (entering play on Thursday night against the Athletics), pitching one inning allowing a single run on two hits. He struck out one and did not walk a batter. He threw 24 total pitches, 18 of which were strikes.

With the Bisons, Barnes got into two games, pitching two scoreless frames and striking out four. He was sent down following the doubleheader in Cleveland, most likely for the sake of getting a fresh arm before their next series.

Next: Blue Jays: Jaime Garcia has not gotten the job done