Bichette continues to be a hitting machine

Bo Bichette has led the American League in hits in each of the past two seasons and is leading again this year.

His .318 batting average is the fourth best in baseball and leads the AL. The last player to lead the league in hits for three straight years was Jose Altuve, who actually did it for four straight years, from 2014-17.

Bichette is a hitting machine. He is a swinger not a taker. He doesn’t look for walks, he looks for hits. He swings early and often. He swings at the eighth-highest percentage of first pitches and has the fourth-lowest percentage of at-bats that get to a three-ball count. 

What makes him so good is his ability to use the entire field. The best hitters are the ones who can drive the ball from line to line. Bichette has put the most balls in play to the opposite field in the major leagues.

It doesn’t matter which pitch is thrown to him; he leads the league in hitting the ball to the right field. It doesn’t matter if it is a fastball, breaking ball or changeup. It doesn’t matter If the pitch is up or down. In fact, it doesn’t matter if the pitch is inside or outside. Bichette’s approach is always the same. 

Most hitters pull pitches on the inside part of the plate. Bichette has only pulled 38 per cent of inside pitches since last season, the lowest in the majors. Bichette consistently looks to stay inside of the baseball and drive it over the second baseman’s head. When a hitter drives the ball the other way, he lets the pitch travel deeper in the strike zone, which allows him to see the ball longer. Bichette is the best at it since Ichiro Suzuki, Michael Young, and Derek Jeter. 

The fact that he has excellent opposite-field power makes him even more of a threat. His 14 home runs leads the Jays this season and he also leads the club in slugging and RBI. Bichette is actually doing his best Vladimir Guerrero Jr. imitation, providing the kind of production that was expected from Vlad Jr. Bichette has taken his offensive game to a higher level and Guerrero has underperformed a bit. But that is the good news. Guerrero will pick it up and start hitting home runs. The Jays have a big run in them and Bichette and Guerrero will be right in the middle of it. 

Bichette’s consistency and aggressiveness continue to reinforce the Jays are his team. He’s in the first season of a three-year, $33.6 million deal, and that price tag will keep increasing as he continues to produce offensively at the premium defensive position.

The question is, will the Jays be able to afford Bichette and Guerrero and, if not, who will end up being paid the big bucks? The answer might just be Bichette. 

Jays pitching depth facing major test

Mark Shapiro Ross Atkins

With Alek Manoah in Dunedin trying to rebuild himself, the Jays have had to use an opener in his place in the rotation. Before the demotion, the Jays were the only team that had every start made by a pitcher who began the season in the rotation.

Now the Blue Jays’ depth is being tested, and, on the surface, it appears the club didn’t plan for the inevitable injuries and underperformance that beset every team during the season.

But that isn’t completely true. When the Jays broke camp, they believed that their depth of starting pitching included Thomas Hatch, Yosver Zulueta, Mitch White, Ricky Tiedeman, and Bowden Francis. Every guy in that group has either underperformed or suffered an injury.  Of course, Hyun Jin Ryu is on the mend from Tommy John surgery, but they weren’t counting on him until after the All-Star break at the earliest.

The difficulty the Jays were faced with in the off-season was that they didn’t present any free-agent depth candidates a real option to compete for a spot in the rotation. Toronto’s top five starters were locked in place. Free agents look for opportunities as much or more than dollars when identifying the right team to sign with in the off-season. The Jays clearly had a challenge in recruiting, but they really needed to find another experienced starter.

If you can’t entice a player with opportunity, try to buy their loyalty.  Overpaying for a depth piece you never use is better than not having one when you do need it most. In fact, it costs more in the long run when teams have to find the depth from a place of desperation. That cost will be in the form of prospect capital via the trade market.

I’m sure Jays GM Ross Atkins has his scouts scouring the major leagues, minor leagues and waiver wires for options. There is a pitcher out there who can be had and will be effective. The challenge is locating him and then making a deal. 

Spitting Seeds

Willson Contreras Oliver Marmol St. Louis Cardinals

- The Blue Jays are just 7-17 against AL East opponents and 31-15 against everyone else. That is not the record of a team that can win its division. The good news is the Jays play fewer games within the division this year with the balanced schedule. But if the Jays make the playoffs they may have to beat the Rays, Yankees and/or Orioles to get to the World Series. They need to step it up so if they do put themselves in that position they have some confidence in October. 

- Jose Berrios threw his best game as Blue Jay on Wednesday night against the Orioles when he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He ultimately threw 7.2 innings of shutout baseball against the red-hot Baltimore Orioles. He surrendered three hits and allowed one walk while striking out five. He got an amazing 25 called strikes on Orioles hitters. The most any pitcher has gotten this year is 29.  He had hitters baffled and guessing. He was particularly effective using his sinker inside to left-handed hitters, locking them up.  Something to keep in mind:  Berrios is 10-0 with a 2.66 ERA in his career against Baltimore. If the Jays play the Orioles in a wild-card series, he will need to start one of the first two games. 

- The St Louis Cardinals have the worst record (27-42) in in the National League.  Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that this season. Sure, their pitching is not what it has been in the past, but they still were supposed to have a deep, potent lineup and a great defence. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for them. Preseason projections had them anywhere from an 86-89 win team, but they are on pace to lose 99. I’m not big on talking about firing coaches and managers. They are people and have families. But when a club has expectations that far exceed the performance this deep into the season, a change of leadership has to be considered. As a general manager, I would be considering making some kind of change to salvage the season. The NL Central is weak this year. No team seems good enough to run away with the division, so the Cardinals still have life. Manager Oliver Marmol is in just his second year and is inexperienced. Plus, he has had a few run-ins with players and umpires this season. He is increasingly frustrated and critical in the media. I would strongly consider making a change there if I was the GM.

- If the LA Angels keep playing like they are, Shohei Ohtani will not be available for trade at the deadline. They are 39-32 and just one game back of the third wild-card spot in the American League. Ohtani is the only player in baseball history to ever hit 20 homers and strike out 100 batters in a season, and he has now done it three straight seasons. He is currently leading the AL in homers and OPS and is second in strikeouts as well. I don’t think he will re-sign with the Angels no matter what happens this season, but he might finish the year there.