Blue Jays: Bo knows hardware . . . and it’s piling up
As if Blue Jays fans weren’t already anxiously awaiting Bo Bichette’s big-league debut, Toronto’s secondranked prospect has added to his increasingly impressive resume.
The 19-year-old shortstop was voted offensive player of the year in minor league baseball on Wednesday, after leading the way with a .362 batting average for the low Class-A Lansing Lugnuts and high Class-A Dunedin Blue Jays. Bichette flashed some power with 14 home runs, 41 doubles and four triples on the way to a .988 on-base-plus-slugging mark. He drove in 74 runs.
Ranked No. 25 among all majorleague prospects by MLBPipeline.com, Bichette has been piling up the hardware, including:
Midwest League most valuable player and prospect of the year.
Helping Dunedin capture a share of the Florida State League championship, after appearing in the futures game on MLB’s all-star weekend.
“A big thing for me this year was to focus on my routines every single day and trying to become more professional at bat, and I think that’s what kind of kept me pretty consistent this year,” Bichette told MiLB.com.
Life wasn’t as kind to the St. Petersburg, Fla., native when he returned to his home state from Lansing near mid-season. His slashline dropped from .384/.448/.623 through 70 games in Michigan to .323/.379/ .463 in 40 appearances in Dunedin.
The 2016 second-round pick’s biggest competition for the award included teammate Vlad Guerrero Jr. The 18-year-old third baseman, ranked third among MLB prospects, slashed .323/.425/.485 with 13 home runs and 76 RBIs.
Past winners of the minor-league hitting award include Kris Bryant of the Cubs, last year’s NL MVP, and George Springer of the Astros.