Almost from the time they both came into the organization, Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr. were linked as the duelling cornerstones of the Jays foundation.

Together they rose through the ranks. Together they provided hope as the teardown and rebuild from 2015 and 2016 began to take shape.

And in 2018, the bond grew stronger, and the big leagues became closer on a championship team.

“When we were young, we were competitive with each other in a healthy way,” Bichette said. “We loved each other and we were good friends, but I think, in a way, we were competitive.

“We fed off each other in that way. We shared things as well, but I think there was a healthy competition between us.”

Out of that competition, a friendship among teammates forged. To this day, you can see the two leaning on each other in the dugout, the language and life of baseball being their connection.

“We didn't bond over success, we bonded through failure, whether it was him going through it or myself going through it,” Bichette said. “I think that's why our relationship has gotten stronger — sticking with each other. That's when you can tell if somebody cares about you or not.”

In 2018, the expectations were high for both, but Bichette has never bowed to the projections of others.

“I knew there were a lot of people on that team who were expected to be in the big leagues, including me,” Bichette said. “But that didn't affect me. Nobody ever put more expectations on me than I did on myself. I just took it in stride.”

The professionalism both Guerrero and Bichette showed off the field, as well as on it, certainly hastened their progress.

“It was probably the first year that all the attention was on them, and they delivered,” Schneider said. “It's not often you get two super prospects on the same team, and they not only learned how to get better, but they learned from each other. That was cool to watch unfold.

“I remember we got to the middle of the summer, and it was like, these dudes could probably go up and help the big-league team right now. If that was the case, I wanted to make sure we'd talk about specific things like when to go on contact and relays and things like that.”

Bichette learned plenty about himself that season, including something that had previously been foreign to him — a real-time hitting slump in the first half of the season. As he fought through it, Bichette would become a key second-half bat for the team.

Hitting coach Mense recalls a conversation with Bichette in Portland in the dog days of midseason.

“The first half of the year, it wasn't that great, but it ended up being the best thing for him,” Mense said. “Up until that time in his pro career there hadn't been a ton of struggle for Bo, and at some point he was going to encounter it.

“I remember us talking about it, and I remember him working through some stuff — the swing, the mentality, remaining even-keeled — and how that would help him going forward. You're preparing yourself to be not just a big leaguer but a successful big leaguer and working your way out of those struggles is a big part of it.”

In the process, Mense and others in that iteration of the Fisher Cats saw a glimpse into the potential greatness of Bichette.

“From a baseball standpoint, I've never been around somebody that in tune,” Mense said. “He was just way beyond his years. You could have conversations with him that are way beyond what you could fathom with most guys talking about the swing.

“I was just blown away with it early on. I sometimes kind of expect it from guys coming from big league pedigrees like Bo because they've been around the game. But he exceeded it, especially for a young kid.”

As he is now, Bichette was all business during his summer in New Hampshire. But he still has rock-solid recollections of his season in the Granite State.

“There were a lot of great memories from that season,” Bichette said. “It was something pretty special. I find myself telling people a lot about it.”