3 Blue Jays tabbed as players who could have bounce-back seasons

What a difference a season makes. At this time last year, Bo Bichette was regarded by most as one of the top shortstops in all of baseball and was even getting some buzz as a trendy MVP pick. Now, after a down season marred by injuries, Bichette seems like a bit of a forgotten man in baseball circles ahead of his walk year.

The same could be said for Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt, who were regarded as two of the best pitchers in baseball in 2022 and '23 before they faded out of the zeitgeist last season.

But, according to three experts, those three could be on the rise in 2025.

Bo Bichette tabbed as hitter due for a bounce-back year

In a new article for MLB.com, a group of the organization's writers each selected one pitcher and one position player they think will have a bounce-back season, with Thomas Harrigan selecting Bichette as his position player.

Bichette experienced a perplexing decline in 2024, slashing .225/.277/.322 (71 OPS+) with four homers over 336 plate appearances," Harrigan writes. "While the shortstop missed significant time due to injuries, his struggles predated those issues: He had a .629 OPS in 66 games before making his first trip to the IL on June 18.

With free agency looming, Bichette could use a strong rebound to solidify his value. His relative youth and consistent track record before 2024 offer reasons to believe he can get back on track as he enters his age-27 campaign. Bichette ranked fourth among qualifiers in batting average (.298) across 2021-23 and was one of 15 hitters -- and the only shortstop -- to record at least 20 homers and an OPS+ of 120 or better in all three of those seasons.

As mentioned by Harrigan, Bichette was one of the best hitters in baseball from 2021-'23, and even led the American League in hits in 2021 and '22. But that seemed like a lifetime ago in 2024 when he finished the year with an OPS+ (71) that was 51 points lower than it was in 2023.

While Bichette didn't have enough at-bats to qualify for the Baseball Savant leaderboards, his percentiles were way down from where they were when he was at the top of his game. Bichette's at his best when he's squaring up the ball and taking it to all fields (98th percentile in expected batting average in 2023 along with 89th percentile in expected slugging) and that just didn't happen last year.

He finished last year with an expected batting average that would have been around the 60th percentile and a barrel rate that would have been in the 40s. A productive Bichette would go a long way toward helping Toronto reach the postseason.

Two pitchers were also picked as Blue Jays who could have a bounce-back year

Further down, David Adler picked Kevin Gausman as a pitcher that he expected to recover from a down season.

"Gausman’s 2024 numbers would look pretty good for a lot of pitchers -- he threw 181 innings with a 3.83 ERA and 162 strikeouts. But by his standards, it was a big drop-off. The Blue Jays ace had established himself as one of MLB’s top strikeout artists over the previous three seasons, pitching to a 3.10 ERA, averaging 223 strikeouts a year with three top-10 Cy Young finishes and an AL strikeout crown in 2023," Adler writes.

As Adler wrote, any success for Gausman this year is going to come down to his splitter. He's generated 475 strikeouts on the pitch since 2021 (which Adler writes is the third-most by any pitcher on a single pitch type over that time frame) and is a crafty veteran who understands how to work through a lineup, as evidenced by him having a 2.90 ERA over the final three months of last season,

And lastly, Chris Bassitt was picked as a bounce-back candidate by Manny Randhawa.

There are a host of reasons to wonder if Bassitt’s best days are behind him," Randhawa writes. "He just turned 36, and he’s coming off the worst full season of his career -- in 2024, he posted a 4.16 ERA over 31 starts for Toronto. He also saw his ground ball rate (40.1%) decline for the third consecutive year. But don’t count out a rebound performance in 2025, the walk year on his current contract."

The biggest reasons why Randhawa is bullish on a Bassitt comeback is the pitcher's makeup. He finished the year in 76th percentile in average exit velocity, and had two strong stints last year (2.76 ERA from April 9 to June 29; 2.77 ERA over his final five outings).

For Toronto to make any kind of noise in the postseason chase, they'll need both of these veteran pitchers to reclaim their previous form.