Bo Bichette

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Bo Bichette
Bichette with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2019
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 11
Shortstop
Born: (1998-03-05) March 5, 1998 (age 26)
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 29, 2019, for the Toronto Blue Jays
MLB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Batting average.299
Home runs89
Runs batted in312
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Bo Joseph Bichette (born March 5, 1998) is an American professional baseball shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2019. Bichette is a two-time MLB All-Star and twice led the American League in hits. His father, Dante Bichette, also played in MLB.

High school

Bichette was home schooled, but competed in baseball for Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Florida.[1] As a senior, he batted .569 with 13 home runs, and was named the Gatorade/USA Today Florida Player of the Year[2] and Florida's Mr. Baseball.[3] Bichette committed to attend Arizona State University to play college baseball for the Arizona State Sun Devils.[2]

Career

Hi

Toronto Blue Jays

2019 season

On July 29, 2019, the Blue Jays selected Bichette's contract and promoted him to the major leagues.[4] On that day, he recorded his first major league hit, a single against Brad Keller of the Kansas City Royals, on the second major league pitch he saw. On July 31, Bichette recorded three hits against the Royals, the second of which was his first MLB home run.[5] On August 6, Bichette became the first MLB player to hit 10 extra base hits in his first nine major league games with a double against the Tampa Bay Rays.[6] After hitting another double on August 7, Bichette joined Yadier Molina and Derrek Lee as the only players in the live-ball era to record a double in eight straight games and broke the Blue Jays franchise record set by Carlos Delgado in 2000.[7] Playing in Toronto for the first time the following day, Bichette extended his doubles streak to nine games, setting a new MLB record. He also set a new MLB record in extra-base hits in the first 11 games of his career with 13. He is the first rookie with 9 straight games with extra-base hits since Ted Williams in 1939.[8] Bichette set franchise records with 20 hits and an 11-game hit streak with a 1.316 OPS during the 11-game span.[9] He finished the season hitting .311 with 11 home runs in 46 games.

2020 season

Overall with the 2020 Blue Jays, Bichette batted .301 with five home runs and 23 RBIs in 29 games.[10]

2021 season

On July 4, 2021, Bichette was named an All-Star for the first time.[11] At the time of his nomination, Bichette had a slash line of .290/.340/.529, with 15 home runs and 54 RBI.[12] Bichette finished the 2021 season batting .298/.343/.484 with 29 home runs, 102 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. He led the American League with 191 hits, while defensively he led the league with 24 errors.

2022 season

On September 5, 2022, Bichette had a 3-home run game in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. In doing so, he also made history with teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr., in which they were the first pair of teammates to have a 3-home run game in the same season, and both have fathers who played in MLB.[13] He finished the 2022 season with a .290/.333/.469 slash line, 24 home runs, 93 RBI, and led the majors in foul balls hit, with 587.[14]

2023 season

Bichette led the American League in hits in both 2021 and 2022, with 191 and 189, respectively.[15] On April 14, 2023, he recorded the 500th hit of his MLB career in his 407th game, surpassing the previous franchise record held by Vernon Wells and Shannon Stewart, who needed 432 games to reach the milestone.[16] In 2023 he batted .306/.339/.475, had 175 hits (4th in the AL), and led AL batters in line drive percentage (27.4%) and percentage of balls hit to the opposite field (40.6%).[17]

Batting style

Bichette is a power hitter, and can generate great bat speed and power. According to Joe Siddall: "He does it by separating and delaying torso rotation after the foot hits the floor after leg kick, exposing his back plate surname and number, before uncoiling, with the bat at the same angle as his shoulders. When facing a strikeout or pay-off pitch (X-2 or 3-2), he replaces the leg kick with the left knee bowing inwards."[18]

Personal life

Bichette is the son of four-time MLB All-Star outfielder Dante Bichette, and the younger brother of Dante Bichette Jr.[19] He is named after Bo Jackson.[20] He is a Christian.[21] Both Bo and his brother Dante Jr. have played for Brazil in the WBC due to their mother Mariana being a native of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Their maternal grandfather is of Chinese descent.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ Page, Rodney (March 19, 2016). "High school game's a fun break for MLB prospect Bo Bichette". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Page, Rodney (June 8, 2016). "First-day draft prospect Bo Bichette makes the rounds". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  3. ^ "Bo Bichette named Florida's Mr. Baseball day before MLB Draft". Spectrum News 9. June 8, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "Jays add top prospect Bichette for Royals series". ESPN. July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  5. ^ Rob Longley (July 29, 2019). "Bichette gets a hit, joins his junior Jays buddies for win against Royals". Toronto Sun. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  6. ^ Temming, Stan (August 6, 2019). "Blue Jays' Bo Bichette becomes first player to begin MLB career with 10 extra-base hits". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  7. ^ Harrison, Doug (August 7, 2019). "Blue Jays' Bo Bichette extends hit streak to 10 games to start MLB career". CBC.ca. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  8. ^ McKenna, Ryan (August 8, 2019). "Blue Jays' Bo Bichette sets MLB record for consecutive games with double". Sportsnet. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Breaking Down Bo Bichette's Record Breaking Start | At The Letters, retrieved August 10, 2019
  10. ^ "Bo Bichette Stats, Fantasy & News". MLB.com.
  11. ^ Matheson, Keegan (July 4, 2021). "Bichette to join 3 other Blue Jays at ASG". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  12. ^ "Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette named reserve for 2021 MLB All-Star Game". Sportsnet.ca. Sportsnet. July 4, 2021. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  13. ^ "Bichette's trio of HRs put him in rare baseball company". MLB.com. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  14. ^ "Statcast Custom Leaderboards". baseballsavant.com.
  15. ^ "Year by Year Leaders for Hits". Baseball Almanac.
  16. ^ Davidi, Shi (April 14, 2023). "Berrios finds fastball command as Blue Jays snap Rays' 13-game win streak". Sportsnet. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  17. ^ "Major League Leaderboards - 2023 - Batting". FanGraphs Baseball.
  18. ^ "Joe Siddall breaks down Blue Jays' Bichette's swing". Sportsnet. August 6, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  19. ^ "ALL-USA Watch: Bo Bichette has been bombing away for Lakewood (Fla.) baseball". May 2, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  20. ^ Kepner, Tyler (April 20, 2018). "Now Batting in Class AA: Biggio, Bichette and Guerrero". The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  21. ^ Waldman, Ben (July 31, 2019). "Everything we know about Bo Bichette, the guy who may be the Blue Jays' next great slugger". torontolife.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  22. ^ Neumann, Thomas (September 23, 2016). "Barry Larkin has ambitious plans to grow baseball in Brazil". ESPN.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.

External links

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