Toronto Blue Jays: Bo Bichette is ready when we are

After missing more than a month with a broken bone in his hand, o Bichette has shown he’s ready for the next level whenever the Blue Jays are ready to call.

The Blue Jays just finished up a series with the Kansas City Royals and the team’s performance, even against one of the worst teams in the league, was very encouraging. A lot of that has to do with the talents of the young players on the Blue Jays’ roster like Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cavan Biggio, and more.

If the fan base has their way, there will be another young player on the way to join the big league roster sooner than later, and based on his recent performance it would appear that Bo Bichette is ready for the challenge.

The Blue Jays’ #2 ranked prospect entering the season, Bichette has been extremely impressive through his MiLB career, and would likely be in the big leagues by now if he hasn’t been injured earlier this season. He broke a bone in his hand earlier this season when he was hit by a pitch a couple of months ago, but that hasn’t slowed down his production since he’s returned to the Buffalo Bisons’ lineup.

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He’s now got his slash line up to .298/.368/.463 over 32 games in Buffalo, up more than 50 points since he returned from the injured list. He’s also been on fire lately, going 16-39 over his last 10 games, and 10-16 (with two walks) over his last four contests. It’s safe to say that the 21-year-old is locked in at the plate and ready for the next challenge.

When will that happen for Bichette? Well, chances are that the earliest we’ll see Bichette is sometime in July, but that will likely be conditional on the Blue Jays making a trade or two in order to open up roster space and playing time. Right now the shortstop position is occupied by Freddy Galvis, and I sincerely doubt the Blue Jays are going to bench him, even in a rebuilding year. More likely, they’ll look to find a trade partner for Galvis before making another roster move.

In theory, the Blue Jays could promote Bichette and either play him or Galvis at second base, but the rest of the Blue Jays’ roster makes that difficult as well. Biggio has received the bulk of the starts at second base, and there’s no good reason to put that to a stop. They also have Eric Sogard, who has been having a career season and deserves to be in the lineup, as long as he’s a Blue Jay as well.

The good news is that there’s no massive rush here, and that works well for the Blue Jays as they navigate this situation. The front office has talked about wanting Bichette to have a proper experience at the Triple-A level, and there has even been speculation that the club could wait until next year before Bichette makes his big league debut. However, his play is ultimately going to determine that (for the most part), and his performance says that he’s ready now.

Chances are it’ll still be a couple of weeks before real consideration of a big league promotion happens for Bichette, but as we approach the July 31st trade deadline, that day could be just around the corner.