» Bo Bichette ready to ‘put on a show’ with Toronto Blue Jays

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DUNEDIN, Fla. – Sure, the scene was only TD Ballpark and the relatively stress-free timing was a mid-March spring training game.

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But as a portent to what might await for a player looking to re-affirm himself as one of the Blue Jays’ brightest stars, it was a brilliant Bo Bichette moment.

There was the confident setup and stare toward the mound, followed by a tap of the hand on the top of his batting helmet. Then moments before the pitch was on its way, the lift of the left leg that has been part of the distinct Bichette swing.

What followed was familiar — if a year removed from this act — a monster moon shot over the wall in left centre field.

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Of the significant baseball things that must go right for the Blue Jays to enact a return to respectability in 2025, a renaissance of Bichette as one of the game’s best hitters is at the top of the list.

Moments like this Grapefruit League contest were commonplace this spring for a hitter prolific during most of his career, but one resolutely committed to erase the worst season of his pro career.

By his own admission, it was a year that dragged Bichette lower than he has been in his life — personally and professionally.

“I beat myself up a little bit,” Bichette said during a revealing and introspective interview with the Toronto Sun on a quiet morning in Dunedin. “There’s a bunch of reasons my season went the way that it did last year, but it’s not something I’m really going to get into.

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“I’ve moved on from it and I’m looking forward to this season. I’m in a great place to go out there and compete and enjoy the game and try and help the team win.”

Left unsaid, perhaps, is that Bichette wants himself and the team to be everything they weren’t during that disheartening last-place campaign.

For Bichette, it was a disastrous and disappointing season punctuated by injury, self-doubt and crushing disappointment related to so much that had soured around the franchise.

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The fact he was limited to just 81 games, sandwiched between stints on the injured list for a right calf strain and a fractured middle finger, was just part of it.

The struggles were real. When Bichette was in the lineup, he hit just .225 (a dramatic plunge from hitting .306 in 2023), while his four home runs spoke volumes. Bichette scraped out just 70 hits, this from a guy who led the league in that department in two of the previous three seasons.

Yes, the misery was real and Bichette felt it. Among the regrets were suggestions that effort and commitment weren’t consistent enough.

“I think we’re super talented,” Bichette said. “I think we have everything we need. I think what has to go right is we have to bring it every day. With championship teams, there’s no days taken off and we just have to go out there every day to win. And that’s it.”

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WASN’T HIS ‘BEST SELF’

Was that lacking in 2024, we asked?

“Well, we lost a lot of games last year,” Bichette said.

“We’re human. Last year, I know that I didn’t bring my best self. But we had lost a lot of games, so obviously a lot of things went wrong. There’s not much more to it. There’s not much to be said about it. I just wasn’t my best.”

While so much of the narrative around the Jays this off-season has centred around Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s march toward free agency, the all-star first baseman is joined at the contractual hip with his shortstop. But when a player has such a disastrous season as Bichette did, negotiating strength shifts sharply toward the club. It’s the big reason talk of a Bichette contract extension has been missing the past six months, while Guerrero’s situation seems almost a daily talking point.

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With that status, the narrative that Bichette is sure to walk to free agency has been a prominent one through the off-season. A big 2025, of course, could change so much of the discourse.

In the meantime, Bichette, as a proud teammate, doesn’t want to detail the issues that led to the Jays’ demise — whether he believes they were related to culture, front-office shortfalls, confusion on hitting approach or a toxic mix of several issues.

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But it is clear that a no-fun 2024 wore heavily on the 27-year-old.

“I want to have joy playing the game, really. I want to go out there every day and try and do something special every time I step on the field,” Bichette said. “Growing up, I wanted to be the guy that people came to the field to watch. That comes from competing every day, but really just leaving my talent out on the field.

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“And that comes from no fear and now I have no fear, so I’m just excited to see what I can do. I want to put on a show and I’m excited to do that.”

The disposition is a notable turnaround from 12 months earlier.

“We’ve been decent,” Bichette said in a somewhat foreboding 2024 spring training interview. “We made the playoffs (in 2023.) We just need to be better. I think that you just have to remember that we’re professionals here and our No. 1 priority every day as professionals is to come here and win. That’s what we’re paid to do. That’s the standard. You can take that however you want to take it.”

‘TOUGHEST YEAR OF MY ADULT LIFE’

Well, as we know, what followed was a substandard season, profoundly so, as the Jays managed just 74 wins and bottomed out in the AL East. Of all the players who were angry and frustrated with that effort, Bichette may have worn it the heaviest.

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“Honestly, I had a tough year, maybe the toughest year of my adult life, my baseball life,” Bichette said. “But I’m still standing. I’m still super grateful for the life that I have.

“I think going through tough times in your life and you’re still alive and still breathing and still have an opportunity to do what you’ve always dreamed of and accomplishing what you’ve always dreamed of, you kind of realize that (tough) stuff is not the end of the world.

“I really have nothing to fear now. When I realized that, I kind of realized the joy I have for the game again and I’m just excited for the season.”

If that’s introspection on Bichette’s part, it would appear to come from a genuine spot.

Those who know him best see some of that joy and positivity returning. While he’s never been the most verbose player in the Jays clubhouse, it would be a mistake to misinterpret his at-times muted persona for a lack of caring. There may be times when he appears to be brooding, but it’s just the understated way he carries himself.

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The image that matters most is the presence he’s shown at the plate.

“He looks like he has probably earlier in his career,” manager John Schneider said when we asked him about Bichette’s demeanour and performance during an impressive spring training run. “He’s really, really intense. He’s taking advantage of every at-bat, he has a plan every single at-bat and he’s pissed off when he doesn’t do it.

“I think when you see Bo pissed off, that’s good. And I’ve known him a long enough time to understand that.”

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Schneider has known and coached Bichette for the better part of a decade — first in the minors and now in what will be Schneider’s third full season as big-league manager.

There has been a fatherly role along the way and in nurturing Bichette’s talent — and letting it flourish — the manager knows what works best.

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“I think he needs to challenge himself every single day and he probably got away from that last year,” Schneider said. “In prepping for this season and being away from the game (due to injury), I think he understood he needs to get back to that. And he’s definitely done that so far.”

Schneider acknowledged that although Bichette appears to have a tendency to be hard on himself, he believes it’s a sign of professional drive rather than self-destruction.

“I think that’s just how he’s wired,” the manager said. “With all really good competitors, they have that awareness of when they’re good and what they need when they’re good. Outsiders may think he toes the line of being a little bit too mad or crazy at times, but I think it’s what makes him great.”

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And yes, Schneider sees a big Bichette bounce-back, a prognostication common around the team.

“Just in watching him play, hearing him talk, the passion and intensity with which he’s talking about things that are important to him has been very, very evident,” Schneider said.

PIVOTAL YEAR AWAITS

In reality, though, this is more than a pivotal rebound year for Bichette. It feels like something more. As we spoke on a quiet Saturday morning in the Jays clubhouse, Bichette was introspective and transparent.

“I think any failure is humbling,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “I had gotten to a point in my career where I was so consistent since I was a child. I had years where I wasn’t super pumped, but I had never failed in the minor leagues or the big leagues. I never had a season where I didn’t feel I was a positive addition to the team.

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“But honestly? I feel that by going through that made me realize in a way how good I am. In a great way, it made me realize that I have nothing to fear because what I do is a blessing. I’m just really excited about going out there and trying to do something special this year.”

If he were to successfully unite with Guerrero in that quest, what a story it would be. The parallels in their career arcs go way back, the cornerstones around which so much optimism associated with this franchise was built earlier this decade.

When Guerrero launched 48 home runs in 2021 while seen as one of the bright young stars in the game, Bichette was right there along with him leading the American League in hits.

They’ve grown through the system as teammates, friends, sons of former major-leaguers and sublimely talented hitters in their distinct styles. Now into their mid-20s and with a foundation of big-league experience behind them, teammate are excited to see the next act of the Vlad and Bo Show.

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“This is my fourth year (with the Jays) and it’s so different from the first year when I came in,” said starter Kevin Gausman. “You can tell that they’ve changed their mentality. Guys aren’t looking at them as just young guys anymore. They’re being looked at to lead. I think they’ve really took to that, both of them.”

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For most players and coaches, spring training numbers are an automatic toss given the circumstances. But you’d rather hit than not, wouldn’t you? In his 18 games and a team-high 51 at-bats, Bichette lead the Jays in hits (19), homers (tied with four) and recorded a stellar .373 batting average. The performance and the confidence has not gone unnoticed.

“Bo is about as dynamic a hitter as you can get in the box,” new hitting coach David Popkins said on a recent Sportsnet broadcast. “It’s hard (for an opposing pitcher) to predict what he’s trying to do up there. It’s been pretty special … not just the way he moves and the swing, but the way he approaches every at-bat. He’s extremely intelligent.”

That hitting intellect has long been part of Bichette’s extensive tool kit. For much of his life, he’s worked with his father Dante, himself an elite big-league hitter. But he seems to like the messaging he’s received from Popkins and his assistants Lou Iannotti and Hunter Mense.

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“There’s a passion they bring every day,” Bichette said of that threesome. “Obviously, we have a ton of players here who are accomplished in the big leagues and to do that, you have to be passionate about it. You have to work hard. (The coaches) bring that same passion, same work ethic and that’s something that we can all respect.

“Obviously, as a coach you have to garner respect and they definitely have done that. It’s been great to work with them.”

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In the buildup to a pivotal season for Bichette, that physical work has paid off. It would seem as though the mental work — dispensing of everything that dragged him down last season — will be equally valuable.

He’s ready, it would seem, to swing not just for the fences, but with a freedom he hasn’t enjoyed in a couple of years. To do that, Bichette knows he has to play with joy and abandon fear and self-doubt.

“It’s always been a mindset for me, but having gone through what I did last year it’s just that I have nothing to fear,” Bichette said. “I never doubted myself, even last year. And now I feel like myself, maybe even better than I have in a long time, in years.

“Just enjoy the game. My whole life I’ve always just wanted to do special things on the field and put on a show. That’s what I want to do.”

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