The Toronto Blue Jays are keeping Bo Bichette out of the lineup for Monday’s game against the Kansas City Royals. While the Blue Jays haven’t indicated that Bichette has an injury or dealing with an illness, so his absence from the starting lineup for Monday’s series opener likely amounts to a maintenance day. Isiah-Kiner Falefa will slide over from third base to cover shortstop in place of Bichette, who had started every game dating back to April 2. Bichette’s day off comes after he mustered one hit in 18 at-bats over his last five games. The 26-year-old slashed .306/.399/.473 over 135 games in 2023, missing time in August due to a right knee injury.
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Bo Bichette Not in the Blue Jays Lineup
It’s no secret that Bichette is off to a slow start. Bichette is batting .210/.263/.305 with a home run and 10 RBI in 27 games. The Blue Jays could handle one of their players starting, but the trio of Bichette, George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continue to display inconsistency. Toronto is getting more hitting production from Justin Turner and Daulton Varsho, yet this lineup desperately needs a sign of life.
Bichette is one of the best hitters in baseball but hasn’t shown that at all so far this season. Blue Jays manager John Schneider thinks it’s a matter of missing some pitches at the plate.
“Missing pitches that he’s hammered his whole career, just missing them,” Schneider said. “He can get as hot as anybody. He can get hitting .400 for a month or two. I think it’s just about not clipping the pitches he’s been really, really good at his whole career. His swings are better. He’s getting his good swings off more consistently. It’s just a matter of time.”
One Odd Bichette Stat
Here’s something most fans might not know about Bichette. He’s 1-for-15 at the plate against left-handers. Bichette hit .332 against lefties a season ago while batting .312 against them for his career. He’s hitting .292 against right-handers. Bichette can be streaky, even as Schenider pointed out. Last May, he hit .350, .278 in June and .337 in July. Going back two years ago, he was hitting .213 in his first 97 at-bats, the same number he had coming into Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He did, however, hit .406 in his final 150 plate appearances to close out the season.
“I think he’s just kind of off to a little bit of a slow start,” Schneider said. “I don’t think there’s anything really I mean, he has such a high lofty expectation for himself, so, I mean, I think he’s aware of it, but I don’t think he’s in a bad place by any means. He’s such a gifted hitter, where it’s just gonna turn quick.”
Toronto enters Monday with a .226 team batting average, the eighth-worst in the majors, the 12th-worst OBP (.310) and the eighth-worst OPS (.669).
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