Going into the 2017 season, Toronto Blue Jays fans and the club itself saw an upcoming decline in productivity. The stacked teams from 2015 and 2016 were relatively old. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, having been in the league since before the start of the decade, were starting to show some age. Josh Donaldson, despite only being up in the Major Leagues for a couple of seasons, was a late bloomer himself, being 31 in 2017. Toronto as a whole accepted the fact that it was time for a rebuild. Two seasons later, they would have three major young talents on the team ready to compete. These three being Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and Cavan Biggio. All three have shown glimpses of greatness but not dominated the way other prospects have. The Toronto Blue Jays Young Three show immense potential and could be deadly in 2021.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the Blue Jays most anticipated prospect prior to 2019. If being Vladimir Guerrero’s son wasn’t already enough to gain any attention, he was destroying baseballs in the Minor Leagues. During his four years spent in the Minors, Guerrero Jr. hit for a .341 average, smashed 44 home runs, and had a tremendous .945 OPS in 289 games. Those stats are enough to get any fan excited for the future. Now that Guerrero Jr. is in the majors, he hasn’t quite lived up to the hype but also hasn’t been overly bad. He’s hit .269 between the two seasons he’s played in and has hit 24 home runs. Although not the best stats for a debut he’s shown many glimpses of greatness and has only played 183 games. Safe to say he’ll only get better from here. Now that the team is working with Dante Bichette he could see a huge increase in production.
Cavan Biggio
Cavan Biggio was the second of the Blue Jays young three to reach the majors. Biggio didn’t dominate the minors in the way that the other two did. However, his hitting style in the majors is exactly the same as it was in the minors. Biggio may look like your stereotypical average hitter, but his batting average actually slacks. He only hit .234 and .250 in his two seasons spent in the majors. What does stand out however is his sneaky power and his oddly high on-base percentage. Despite not hitting over .300 in his first two seasons, Biggio managed to put up a combined .368 on-base percentage. This OBP is nowhere close to being great but it is however high considering his low average. If Biggio could sacrifice a little bit of his passive approach and attack the ball more he could be among some of the best hitters.
Bo Bichette
It can be debated that Bo Bichette had the best Minor League career. But it’s undeniable that so far, he’s had the best Major League career. He has only played 75 games, but he’s hit .307, 16 home runs, and had a .869 OPS. In the Minor Leagues, he hit .321 with 37 home runs in 323 games. If Bichette can keep his consistency up in 2021 he could be among the highest-ranked shortstops. The shortstop position is already the most talented. One part of Bichette’s game that he must improve on is his number of strikeouts. Bichette currently has two more strikeouts than games played. Bichette’s swing is still very violent, but now hitting in a lineup with more talent he may feel he doesn’t have to do as much as before. Bichette is a very safe pick in any fantasy draft.
The Toronto Blue Jays young three are the most exciting group of young talent in MLB. Now that the Blue Jays are adding more pieces to their team, it seems as though these three will continue to grow and dominate as the years progress. 2021 may be the breakout year for all three of them, now that they’ve seen enough Major League pitching. There seems to be a level of comfort amongst the three of them. Picking up any of them in a Fantasy draft could certainly help out any team’s roster.
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