Don’t look now, but Bo Bichette’s hitting for more power

The Toronto Blue Jays lack of power been well-documented this season. They've been near the bottom of the league in home runs all year, and have relied on playing mostly run-prevention baseball to secure most of their wins.

However, they've started to turn a corner lately. Going into Wednesday’s action, the Blue Jays have hit 34 home runs (26th in the league), but over 50% of them have come in the last two weeks. Toronto has hit 18 home runs since the end of April, which is tied for the third-most in MLB in that span.

A big reason for that is Bo Bichette. The Blue Jays shortstop is slugging .411 on the year but has posted a .529 slug in the last 14 days. All three of his home runs this season have come in that span, which makes it seem like this power surge is here to stay.

Don’t look now, but Bo Bichette’s hitting for more power

But don't get us wrong, it's not like Bichette was having a bad season prior to this home run spree. He still hit .295 across March and April, and got on-base at a .329 clip — the power just wasn’t there. Only nine of his hits went for extra bases and he had a .693 OPS.

In May, seven of his 12 hits have been for extra bases, and he's hitting the ball with authority. On April 30, Bichette had two singles off Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito, which the second one leaving his bat at112.3 miles per hour, making it his hardest hit ball this year.

That seems to have gotten him going, as all but two of his hits this month have been hit less than 95 mph.

He's also showing that power to every part of the field. Since that aforementioned game against the Red Sox, he’s had seven hits to the pull side, four to the opposite field and three back up the middle. Normally your hardest hits are to the pull side, but all of his hits the other way have been 97 mph or harder.

He leads all shortstop in baseball with 70 balls hit off his bat at 95+ mph and his average exit velocity of 90.9 mph ranks seventh. He also has the seventh best barrels per plate appearance percentage for shortstops at 7.4.

Power at the top of the lineup is such an important tool in MLB, as it means pitchers can’t just attack that first hitter.

They have to be careful of how they approach that batter, which can set the table for the guys hitting behind him. Bichette seems to understand this, and his patience is starting to come through a little more.

He's walked seven times this month compared to five across March and April. His walk rate of 6.3% is his best career rate since his rookie season in 2021 when he finished with a 6.6%

That combination power and patience for Bichette gives the Blue Jays another way they can put runs on the board. While Bichette has just one home run to leadoff the game so far this season, he’s slashing .333/.366/.462 across 41 first inning plate appearances.

It also makes the bottom of the order tougher to pitch to since the opposition won't want to face Bichette with runners on base. Bichette is slugging .524 with a .949 OPS with runners in scoring position. He's also slashing .304/.385/.413 in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, meaning he’s been good late in the game as well.

Bichette has had an incredibly consistent first month-and-a-half of the season, but he's beginning to once again look like one of the best shortstops in all of baseball.