Bo Bichette Flirts With .400

Best Player

Shortstop Bo Bichette started the season hot at low Class A Lansing and didn’t cool down during the first three months of the season. He hit .398/.458/.622 with seven home runs through 61 games.

The 2016 second-round pick from high school in St. Petersburg, Fla., has done nothing but hit since signing. Bichette hit .427 in 22 games in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League last season. Those numbers were easy to dismiss as small-sample randomness, but so far in 2017, he had sustained numbers that are typically unsustainable.

“It’s a consistent approach to the middle of the field. It’s competing to win on every pitch, and it’s making some physical adjustments with his two-strike approach to give him more of a chance to barrel the ball,” farm director Gil Kim said. “He’s been consistent with his mindset at the plate.”

Still just 19, Bichette also made gains defensively at shortstop amid lingering questions over whether he will stick there. Though some project him as a second baseman, he wants to stay at short and has improved his footwork along with his pre-game throwing and defensive work.

“He is beginning to replicate the focus and intent that shows up at the plate now on the defensive side of his game,” Kim said.

Biggest Leap Forward

No player in the Blue Jays system has emerged quite the way Danny Jansen has so far. The 16th-round pick in 2013 dominated at the plate to complement his long admired toughness at catcher.

After Jansen hit .369/.422/.541 in 31 games at high Class A Dunedin, the 22-year-old had continued to produce since a mid-May promotion to Double-A New Hampshire, where he compiled an .827 OPS through 28 games.

“Danny has natural strength and hand-eye (coordination), and he’s getting consistent at-bats this season,” Kim said of Jansen’s injury-marred 2015 and 2016 campaigns.

“Due to the makeup and work ethic that he has, he’s been able to commit to using more of the field and has made arguably the most significant offensive strides out of anyone in the organization.”