Blue Jays 2024 Player Review: A lost season for shortstop Bo Bichette

2024 was supposed to be a big year for Bo Bichette, but it ended up being a lost season for the Toronto Blue Jays shortstop.

It’s not the first time the 26-year-old has experienced rough patches in his career, but this was the first season where injuries hampered his performance and kept him off the field for half of the season.

Although there’s not much of a sample size to draw from, let’s look back at the season that was for Bichette.

Bo Bichette in 2024

• .225/.277/.322 slash line
• 81 games played and 336 plate appearances
• Four home runs
• 64 strikeouts
• 20 walks
• -0.3 bWAR/0.3 fWAR

Things started rough for Bichette straight out of the gate when he finished the month of April with a .213/.271/.306 slash line. His numbers slightly improved throughout the season, but that should’ve been the first red flag that something wasn’t right with the Blue Jays shortstop.

He was hardly the only Blue Jay to struggle the first few months of the season (George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. also had slow starts in 2024), but by mid-May, manager John Schneider had already slotted Bichette down into the sixth spot in the lineup in an attempt to get his bat going.

Nothing really seemed to click for Bichette this season, despite playing every day for the first two and a half months of the season until he landed on the injured list with a strained right calf. It should be noted that he suffered a right quad injury and had tendonitis in his right knee last season, so one wonders this could’ve been lingering effects from those trips to the IL last season.

Bichette returned ten games later but re-aggravated the calf injury once again, landing him on the injured list a second time. This go-around, the Blue Jays took a much more cautious approach as Bichette spent months rehabbing his leg before returning to action before the end of the season.

And of course, because it’s the 2024 Blue Jays, by the time Bichette finally returned during the second last week of the regular season, Bichette suffered a fractured right finger, which ended his season on a frustrating note.

Without knowing the true severity of Bichette’s injuries, it’s hard to determine what hampered him during the first half of 2024 when he was active and in the lineup. His sweet spot and barrel numbers were down a tick, but nothing that would set off alarm bells.

His bat speed remained consistent every month, hovering around 70 miles per hour, so it’s not that he couldn’t catch up to pitches. But his overall quality of contact in 2024 dipped, and his line drive rate decreased from 27.4% in 2023 to 22.1% in 2024.

To me, that’s the only underlying factor here as to what went awry with Bichette in 2024, his lack of hard contact. He’s not a Vladdy guy by any means, but when Bichette isn’t squaring up the ball up the middle and to the opposite field, it really limits how he can damage opposing pitchers.

And the way Bichette’s season ended has left more questions than answers for the Blue Jays. We’ve heard a few times this year that the team was open to trading their shortstop, but at this point, his value is at an all-time low.

Even with him one year away from free agency, the Blue Jays would sell for nickels on the dollar on the trade market. A contract extension hasn’t officially been ruled out for Bichette, but this year feels like a “show me” year for both the team and the player.

But it feels like at every juncture to check in on free agent shortstops or trades. The Blue Jays haven’t been shy to at least see what’s out there. That doesn’t scream like an organization that wants to keep Bichette long-term.

In a contract year, with everything to prove to not only himself, but the Blue Jays and potential suitors in free agency next winter, Bichette will be extremely motivated to return to form. This is someone who led the American League in hits in 2021 and 2022 and can still challenge for a batting title.

Unlike someone like Springer, whose decline is unfolding before our very eyes, Bichette is nowhere near the twilight of his career. At 26 years old, he’s still in the prime of his career, and with a few tweaks, he may return to form as a top-of-the-order threat this Blue Jays team desperately needs.

But behind the scenes, this organization should start preparing for life after Bichette, which could be as soon as next year if things go sideways for the Blue Jays and they become sellers at the trade deadline again.

With so many unknown variables heading into 2025, the most logical choice for the Blue Jays seems to be to run it back with a hopefully healthy Bichette at shortstop and pray whatever ailed him in 2024 is in the rearview mirror.

Previously in this series…

• Player Review: George Springer took another step back offensively
• Player Review: Chris Bassitt has emerged as a valuable leader on the team
• Player Review: Daulton Varsho once again dazzled with the glove
• Player Review: Jordan Romano missed most of the season due to injury