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Blue Jays mid-term report card: Bo Bichette

By Tom Dakers
/ new
Oakland Athletics v Toronto Blue Jays Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images

Bo Bichette's season is much the opposite of last year's. Last year, at about this point, Bo was hitting .255/.298/.423.

This year:

Standard Batting
Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP
25 78 348 333 41 106 19 1 14 47 3 3 14 59 .318 .348 .508 .855 137 169 7 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/27/2023.

Of course, last year, he had a tremendous September, which brought his season numbers in line with this season's. It brought to mind a question I've long had about baseball. Would you rather have a player whose numbers are good all season, consistent? Or would you rather have a player whose numbers end up about the same but who gets there by being average all season and then has one fantastic month?

Anyway, by month, Bo's numbers:

  • April: .317/.354/.508.
  • May: .350/.386/.542.
  • June: .280/.287/.462.

A bit of a drop-off in June. He's only had one walk this month. He's had just one walk in his last 27 games, for a walk rate of 0.9%. Before that, he had a walk rate of 5.6% (right at his career average). It's tough to hit great when pitchers know you aren't going to take a walk. It will turn around.

His strikeout % is also down, 17.0 from 22.2.

This year he's hitting a lot more line drives than last year, 28.5% from 20.4%. His hard contact rate is up slightly (37.6% from 34.9).

With RISP he’s doing very well: .319/.347/.565.

His defense has improved dramatically, by the eye test and by numbers. His UZR/150 is 6.2, and last year -27.6. Outs above average still judge him as slightly below average (-2, last year was -7). He's making slightly fewer errors, but mostly he's making more plays.

Anyway, let's have the poll:

Poll

For the first half, I’d give Bo Bichette an

This poll is closed

  • 73%
    A
    (388 votes)
  • 18%
    B+
    (99 votes)
  • 4%
    B
    (22 votes)
  • 1%
    B-
    (10 votes)
  • 0%
    C+
    (3 votes)
  • 0%
    C
    (2 votes)
  • 0%
    C-
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    D+
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    D
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    D-
    (0 votes)
  • 0%
    F
    (2 votes)
526 votes total Vote Now

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