Blue Jays: 2021’s “what ifs” could be the answers in 2022

An answer in the infield

He’s been one of our favourite players to talk about lately here at Jays Journal, but that’s because there is so much potential for a bounce-back from Cavan Biggio in 2022.

There’s no denying how poorly things went for the 26 year old in 2021, but we also have to take the numbers with a grain of salt. He finished with a slash line of .224/.322/.356 with seven home runs, 10 doubles, and 27 RBI over 250 at-bats. He struggled a bit with the transition to third base after having spent the majority of his time at second during his MLB career, and most importantly, he just couldn’t get healthy.

While there are legitimate concerns about Biggio’s future as a big leaguer, I’m surprised at how quickly people have forgotten about his potential upside. Over the first two seasons we saw him in the big leagues he had a .369 on-base percentage, showing the ability to hit for power, steal some bases, and play solid defence at second. I mean, it was barely a year ago that the Blue Jays were using him along with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette for some of their biggest pre-season promotions.

While I don’t expect Biggio to be a star, or to make up for the loss of an MVP calibre player like Marcus Semien, I do think he can be a significant asset for the Blue Jays in 2022. Ideally he’ll be able to return to second base for the bulk of his playing time, but it’s possible we see him continue in a super-utility role of sorts, playing some second, third, and first base, and a bit in the outfield as well. That will likely depend on what the Blue Jays do once the lockout is over and they can resume their pursuit of roster upgrades, but there’s a very good chance Biggio will see regular playing time next season.

Hopefully he can get back to 100% health and play like the budding young star we saw in 2019 and 2020. He doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting for this group, but if he can be that 3-4 WAR player again it will go a long way to solving the questions surrounding their infield. What if the Blue Jays had a fully healthy Biggio last season? My guess is they would have made the playoffs.