DUNEDIN – Blue Jays Shortstop Bo Bichette looks like and feels in spring training after a 2024 season plagued by an injury.
This is good news for a player entering his walking year and a team who needs him to be in great shape because he seems to bounce after a last place in the American League East.
“I think we are able to win a lot of games, I think we are certainly better,” said Bichette on Thursday. “There is excitement, I think everyone is ready to do their part to win and show everyone what we can do if people forgot. It is therefore exciting.
Bichette discussed for a few minutes by her clubhouse stand before morning training sessions at the team’s development complex. He hit his fists with his teammate and a good friend, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., while the hitter passed during the interview.
The two Infielders came by the system and were labeled as faces of the franchise. However, their future with the club beyond this season is not clear.
Bichette did not have a contract extension talks with the Blue Jays, who could not ink Guerrero to a long -term agreement before the arrival of its negotiation date earlier this week.
“I have been playing with him for so many years that I know he’s here to win,” said Bichette. “The same goes for everyone here. So I think it is easy enough for us to put the attention of the media on it behind us and to focus on victory. “”
Related videos
Bichette signed a three -year and 33.6 million US dollars agreement with the Blue Jays at the beginning of 2023 which covered its three seasons of admissibility to arbitration. He said that he had not had extensions of his own.
Get health news on health
Receive the latest medical information and health information provided to you every Sunday.
“If it comes, then we will understand this,” he said. “I don’t know what it will look like. But for me right now, I’m just focusing on being the best I can help the team win. That’s it.
Bichette dealt with persistent veal problems last year and had his end of the season in mid-September when he broke the middle finger on his launch hand.
“Bo looks like Bo, which is really, really refreshing,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider, after looking at Bichette in training.
The 26 -year stop looks smooth and comfortable during the field exercises with the new second goal player Andres Gimenez, acquired in December from the Cleveland Guardians.
“The last two years, it is someone who knows who will play the second goal,” said Bichette. “So I think when you know someone will be there every day, (comfort comes) fairly quickly.”
Gimenez, 26, posted intermediate numbers to the plate but is a defensive star. He also has a lot of speed, stealing 30 bases in each of the last two seasons.
Signed to a lucrative agreement until 2029 with a team option for 2030, his arrival made an even better defense.
“I think he has probably taken 30 shots in the past two years,” said Schneider. “I am therefore happy that he is on our side. He’s all business. I think it increases the intensity with each ball session on the ground for everyone because of what it can do defensively.
“It can also really swing the bat.”
All-star twice, Bichette led the American League in success in 2021 and ’22. He struck at least 20 circuits during his first three complete seasons with the Blue Jays, but experienced difficulties last year with an average of .225 and only four circuits and 31 points produced in 81 games.
“There are always figures you think you are capable of and want to reach,” said Bichette, who has stripped her long brown hair. “But really for me, I just want to be as competitive as possible every day, the most difficult possible that I can be every day.
“I want to look for all the advantages that I can on the basics, on the field and as a striker. I think if I keep these (things) the goal, I will be in a good place. »»
The first half of the 2025 season will be a critical period for a team that is built to win now. The first difficulties could lead to another sale on the deadline for trade and to potential reconstruction.
But if any click and the team becomes a competitor, the nucleus that is in place could last. Bichette and Guerrero have always expressed their desire to stay together and win together.
Whether in Toronto or elsewhere remains to be seen.
“I think I learned to appreciate the joy with which he plays and the passion he plays with,” said Bichette about Guerrero. “What you see on the field is what you get in the clubhouse. He just appreciates life, which I like a ton. It helps to balance me, I think.
This Canadian press report was published for the first time on February 20, 2025.