3 Blue Jays players in need of a bounceback season
Cavan Biggio
In 2018, the Blue Jays had a trio of young stars that were on the brink of making their major league debuts and there were high expectations for each of them. While Vladimir Guerrero Jr and Bo Bichette have cemented themselves as superstars in the league, the third player Cavan Biggio has been derailed by injuries.
Finishing that 2018 season, Biggio was named the Eastern League MVP in Double-A after collecting 54 extra base hits, including 26 home runs and 99 RBI, while stealing 20 bases and posting a .252/.388/.499 slash line.
He made his big league debut in 2019 and finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting after playing in 100 games and collecting 16 home runs. During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Biggio showed improvement in almost every offensive category. Unfortunately, the following two seasons have been riddled with different injuries that limited him to just 79 games in 2021 and 97 games in 2022.
The beginning of 2022 was just awful for Biggio as he started the season 1-for-23 through his first 13 games before landing on the injured list for four weeks starting at the end of April. The remainder of the season appeared to be an uphill battle, but he did get hot in late June over a two week span that saw him have five multi-hit games going 13 for 33 (.394) over 11 games. Unfortunately, that was the high point of the season for the left-handed utilityman.
Biggio was once considered to be the second baseman of the future for the club and while that is still not out of the question, he will need to improve and stay healthy to earn that spot. Biggio did start games at five different positions in 2022 and could be a valuable asset as a super-utility player. I have confidence that Biggio will have a break through season in 2023 and show why he was a Double-A MVP just a few seasons ago.