On Bo Bichette

We are ten games into the Bo Bichette hitting cleanup era, and we are 8-2 over those games. So it is working, right?

Well, Bo is hitting .256/.318/.333 with 4 doubles in his 10 hits. He also has 4 walks, which is kind of curious. He’s walking more batting cleanup than he was in the two-spot.

Is it time to move him out of that spot? It is a small sample size and all, but then we were told he should hit better in that (more runners on base or something). He does better with runners on base, we were told. Course, if you look it up, he’s hitting .204/.272/.323 with RISP. Not that it means all that much.

He is hitting .338/.354/.507 with just a runner on first (one of those sample size things, I’m sure, though perhaps he sees the first baseman holding the runner on and thinks ‘maybe I should try to shoot it through that hole? Yeah, it is more likely sample size).

I’d move him back behind Teoscar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel (and maybe Matt Chapman). But then I didn’t sell Bo on the move a couple of weeks ago. I get that it is harder for John Schneider. Likely he has to give it more than 10 games, especially if we are winning.

The other thing I’d do is give him a day off here and there. I get that he ‘likes playing every day’, but just because we like something doesn’t mean we should be allowed to do it. I think there is value to a mental health day now and then. That’s why we have weekends. I know it isn’t the same thing, but I need the odd day to step away from the computer and go a day or two without looking at a blank story editor page. I think everyone needs a day, now and then to reset.

Let Santiago Espinal play short for a day or two and tell Bo to relax and have fun with the guys at the dugout's far end. Just enjoy watching. Maybe do it on a day when we have an off day the next.

Defensively, Bo had his second error of the month yesterday. Outs above average has him at 0, saying he’s your average SS. UZR doesn’t like him near as much, having him at a -25.7, the worse rating of any position player in baseball. Which is right?

I’d think somewhere in the middle. I don’t think he is the worst defensive player in baseball, nor the worst defensive SS in baseball (the next worst number among SS is Javier Baez at -13.8, but Bo is better defensively than Bo Baez).

I’d love to flip Espinal and Bichette’s positions, but not mid-season. That would be setting Bo up for failure.

Oh, and please, Pat/Buck/Dan, stop telling us how good he is after 2 strikes. He hitting .140/.204/.210 after two strikes. Yes, no one hits well after two strikes, but Bo is particularly bad at it.

He does hit well after a full count (.286/.546/.321, with no homers, 16 walks (he rarely walks without getting to a full count first. As a team, the Jays hit .237/.483/.439 after a full count).

I’m not a big fan of trading him at the moment, I think that would be selling low. Of course, if he helped get us Juan Soto or Shohei Ohtani ( think the Angels would be crazy to trade him), do it.