Blue Jays Bold Predictions: Bo Bichette will have a 30/30 season

This could be the most important season of Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette’s career. Not only is he in a contract season, he's also coming off a year where he hit just .225 due to a calf injury. There’s also been mixed reports about his future in Toronto, as some reports have made it seem like he wants to stay in Toronto, while others say have said he has ‘has no interest’ in returning to The Six at the conclusion of the 2025 season.

Regardless of whether or not Bichette wants to stay in Toronto, a bounce-back year from him would help all parties. Not only would it increase the value of his next contract (whether that be in Toronto or elsewhere), but it would also help Toronto's chances of making the postseason after missing out in 2024.

It would make it a lot easier for Bichette to sell himself in the offseason if he can get back to the top of his game show that he's one of the best shortstops in the game. Here's why he think he could exceed that and have a 30/30 season.

Bo Bichette will have a 30/30 season

What would would it take for Bichette to have a 30/30 season? For starters, he needs to get better at barreling balls.

Bichette turned in a barrel rate of just 4.4 percent last year, which is far and away the lowest number of his career. (Hat tip to Just Baseball's Clay Snowden for being the first one to point that out). In 2020, he managed barreled 12 of the 96 balls that he put in play. Last year, he barreled just 11 of the 249 balls he put in play.

He also struggled against the fastball, as his averaged just .232 against fastballs last year after hitting .326 against the pitch in 2023. While his expected batting average against fastballs in 2024 was .284, it's clear he wasn't the same hitter as in years prior.

If Bichette can get back to his 2023 batted-ball numbers, it should result in more home runs.

Getting to 30 might be a tough task considering his career-high in home runs is 29, but he’s also entering his age 27 season, which is when most players seem to find their power stroke. While FanGraphs is projecting Bichette to hit 18 home runs, he should top that so long as he's able to stay healthy.

He had a career-low in hard-hit rate last year (43.7 percent), and it's not hard to imagine him racking up home runs in bunches if he's able to get back to his career average of 46.8 percent. Bichette is at his best when he lining the ball into the outfield, and, with a little luck, should be able to sneak a couple of those liners over the short porch in centre at Rogers Centre.

The other part of a 30/30 season is the steals. In 2021, Bichette set a career high with 25 stolen bases. He's recorded just 23 steals in the past three years combined. The Blue Jays don’t have any ‘great’ base stealers on the team, as evidenced by George Springer leading the team last year with 16. The last Blue Jays to steal 30+ bases in a season was Jose Reyes in 2014.

New second baseman Andrés Giménez has recorded two straight 30 steal seasons, so the Blue Jays it's not hard to imagine the Blue Jays being a little more aggressive on the basepaths this season. Bichette is a smart base runner who should be on base more this season, which could help him quietly get to 30 steals,