Bo Bichette’s First Five Years in the Blue Jays System – Path to Stardom

2019 (Age 21)

Bo had been promoted to AAA Buffalo prior to the 2019 season but suffered a setback with a broken hand in April that probably delayed his call-up to the majors.  By the time he arrived in Toronto on July 29th, he was, evidently, ready to make history.  He started his career in the majors by setting the MLB record as the only hitter with 15 extra-base hits in his first 15 games. He tied Ted Williams with a nine-game extra-base hit streak as a rookie (Williams did it in 1939).  He set the all-time MLB record with a double in nine consecutive games and reached base in each of his first 17 career games, the longest such streak in franchise history.  Overall for the 2019 season, Bichette finished with a .311 average and 11 home runs over 46 games.

2020 (Age 22)

Bichette was, once again, on fire to start the season in 2020, recording a hit in 13 of 14 games to start the campaign, including a 5 for 5 game in which he homered, walked, scored three times and stole two bases, making him the youngest player in franchise history to accumulate five hits in a single game.  On August 13th, he became the first shortstop in the MLB modern era to reach base safely six times, hit a home run and steal two bases in the same game.

Unfortunately, shortly thereafter he injured his knee, which forced him to miss almost a month on the IL and his production dropped off following his return for the stretch run.  Overall, his numbers for the shortened season were strong, finishing with a .301 average, 5 home runs, 23 RBIs and five steals in 29 games.