With Bichette on IL, who steps up at shortstop?
TORONTO — Bo Bichette is the participant the Blue Jays can least afford to lose, however for the second time in a month, they’re going through life with out him.
Bichette was positioned on the 10-day injured record Tuesday with a proper quad pressure solely eight video games after coming back from a three-week IL stint with proper patellar tendinitis. It’s one other main blow to the Blue Jays, who sat 2 1/2 video games out of the ultimate Wild Card spot within the American League forward of Tuesday’s motion.
The Blue Jays hope that Bichette can return within the minimal time, which might set him up for a 10-game homestand that features a sequence towards the Rangers with vital postseason implications, however all of the group has proper now could be that hope. Bichette will probably be shut down for a couple of days “to calm it down,” as supervisor John Schneider put it, earlier than crafting a plan to ramp again up.
“He’s frustrated,” Schneider stated. “At the same time, he understands that he doesn’t want to do anything that’s going to put him out for the season. He took it as well as he could, is the best way to say it. He wants to be out there every day, especially at this time of year.”
Bichette is batting .314 this season with an .832 OPS, usually the one constant supply of offense in a lineup that has battled irritating inconsistencies. Even at 25, he’s turn out to be one of many Blue Jays’ most necessary leaders on and off the sphere, calling for his teammates to be “fearless” when he returned from the IL earlier this month in Cincinnati.
There are layers to this loss, too, since Matt Chapman was positioned on the injured record Monday with a proper center finger sprain. Chapman hadn’t been practically as scorching as Bichette offensively, however it hasn’t been troublesome to identify the absence of Chapman’s trademark protection on days he’s out of the lineup.
Coming as much as substitute Bichette is Mason McCoy, the 28-year-old infielder the Blue Jays acquired from the Mariners for reliever Trent Thornton. This is McCoy’s first style of the massive leagues after hitting .226 with a .707 OPS in Triple-A this season.
“He’s a really, really good defender and great baserunner,” Schneider stated. “He’s kind of another blue-collar dude who’s been working his entire career to get here. I’m excited to have him.”
Well, it will depend on the day.
“Creatively,” Schneider stated. “Like we told the guys yesterday, it’s not every day you lose the left side of your infield in the span of two innings. It’s going to get weird. It’s going to get dirty, ugly, crazy at times. I think you look at the combination of Ernie Clement, [Santiago] Espinal and McCoy there on any given day for a variety of different reasons, and third base will be the same thing.”
It looks as if Clement will get the most important piece of the pie right here, given his manufacturing in 2023 and skill to hit each righties and lefties. McCoy, for so long as he’s with the massive membership, is more than likely to be a late-game defensive alternative or pinch-runner.
Why didn’t the Blue Jays name up a high prospect as an alternative?
With No. 2 prospect Orelvis Martinez and No. 5 prospect Addison Barger each rolling in Triple-A, it’s comprehensible to marvel why neither was chosen to make their MLB debut. After Davis Schneider’s dream run over the previous few weeks, the Blue Jays might attempt to catch lightning in a bottle another time.
No. 17 prospect Spencer Horwitz must be a part of that very same dialog, although, and might be on the high of the record. Horwitz has hit .384 with a .484 on-base share over 48 video games in Triple-A since he returned to the Bisons, and whereas there wouldn’t be many begins accessible behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Brandon Belt, Horwitz is an MLB-ready bat who would match a bench function effectively.
The group thought of all three, amongst different choices, however the transfer to McCoy means that the reps will probably be extraordinarily restricted. That’s till Sept. 1, a minimum of, when rosters develop by one place participant and one pitcher, bringing the Blue Jays to one more choice on their high prospects.
“It will be an interesting couple of days,” Schneider stated.
That’s an understatement, and if the Blue Jays need to give Bichette a postseason race to return to, they’ll have to be the great sort of fascinating.
