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Bo Bichette got to play a full MLB season for the first time, in 2020. I’m losing hope that he’ll get a chance to do it again this year. Please let this week’s negotiations go well.
Bo played 159 games, hitting .298/.343/.484 with 29 home runs (which out paced his PECOTA prediction (.264/.318/.448 with 22 home runs) by a country mile). And he stole 25 bases (getting caught just once). FanGraphs had him in the negatives as a baserunner, in his first two seasons, last year he was a positive 6.9, making him the third-best baserunner in the AL.
Other than a poor August (and it seemed like everyone on the team had a poor August) he was pretty consistent.
Buck and Pat talked (incessantly) about his two-strike approach, and while he would foul off a lot of pitches, he wasn’t exactly effective after two strikes (.195/.223/.260), but then few are. At a full count, he hit .189/.328/.189 (as a team the Jays hit .190/.433/.331 after a full count.
He does seem to expand the zone after two strikes, and it doesn’t seem to work, but then it is something that is fixable.
Bo’s defense at short is a topic of conversation. He seems to have streaks of errors and then streaks of errorless play. He made five errors over five games at the end of July, then just one error for all of August. Likely a loss of focus at times. He was just 23 last season, he’s allowed not to be perfect, at least for another year or two.
His range at short is average, but then there are a lot of good shortstops out there, so average isn’t really an insult. We might have been better off with Marcus Semien at short and Bo at second, but then no one would move Bo for a guy on a one-year contract.
UZR had him at a -5.0 for the season, which was second-worst among AL shortstops. I’m willing to bet he’ll be higher up the list next year. Not top or anything, but closer to the middle.
I do think he could be an excellent second baseman, but that can’t happen unless the team picks up a better defensive shortstop on a long-term contract. And, even then, you would have to sell it to Bo.
PECOTA sees Bo hitting .286/.339/.465 with 21 home runs and 21 steals, for a 3.5 WAR. I don’t know, all of that seems low to me. ZiPS has him at .291/.341/.497 with 29 home runs and a 5.2 WAR. I’m hoping that one is closer.
I would love the team to give Bo and Vlad contract extensions before the season starts.
Last year we asked:
- Will Bo be a 20/20 guy this year? 73% of us got it right.
- Will Bo be team MVP this year? 28% said yes. He wasn’t but He would have been in the top 5.
- And we asked if Bo’s walk rate would be over 6.6%? It was 5.8. 66% of us were right.
Poll
Bo’s 2022 bWAR will be
This poll is closed
-
1%
Under 3
(7 votes) -
15%
3 to 3.9
(56 votes) -
47%
4 to 4.9
(173 votes) -
26%
5 to 5.9
(98 votes) -
8%
Over 6
(31 votes)
Poll
Will Bo be a 25/25 guy?
Poll
Where will Bo hit in the lineup?
This poll is closed
-
5%
1
(20 votes) -
66%
2
(242 votes) -
12%
3
(47 votes) -
11%
4
(41 votes) -
3%
5
(14 votes)
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