Blue Jays 2024 Season Preview: Infielders

SS Bo Bichette

Another season, another year of Bo being one of the best hitters in baseball. Blue Jays fans are spoiled to have someone as gifted and consistent as Bichette at the keystone position, and 2024 looks to be as big a year as ever for the soon to be 26-year-old short-stop. 

Bo would’ve led the league in hits again and it not been for an IL stint in August. Still, he posted a .306/.339/.475 slash line with a 123 OPS+ while making strides defensively. 2023 saw Bichette earn his second All-Star selection, while putting up ridiculous expected stats and accumulating a 3.8 fWAR in the process. 

While certain defensive metrics have been boosted over time for the Jays short-stop, his speed has strangely been on a steep decline. Bichette entered the league in 2019 and was in the 83rd percentile in sprint speed, but now resides in just the 43rd percentile. This could be the byproduct of a different workout regiment, or could be done purposely for injury management purposes. Regardless, as long as Bo is healthy, hitting, and providing at least average defence at short, the Blue Jays will take that all year long.

Bichette is entering the penultimate year of his three year contract that was agreed upon last spring, and is set to enter the market after the 2025 season. Bo holds himself as a leader in the clubhouse and a role model for the younger players on the roster, despite him just entering his prime years of performance.

The start short-stop has seen time at various spots in the lineup over the years, spending time everywhere through the first to fifth spot and even dropping to the seventh spot at a point in 2022. Bichette could be poised to bat second again entering 2024, but with the addition of Turner, it’s possible that John Schneider could utilize Bichette’s run producing ability in the cleanup spot. This has been the case before, as Bo owns a career .813 OPS over 76 games batting fourth. 

2024 looks to be another standard year for Bichette. He should be pressed into key spots in the batting order while hoping for better health this time around. Steamer projects a 124 wRC+ from Bo in 2024, as he looks to push the Blue Jays to a third consecutive playoff berth and hopefully much more.