'We need him': Bichette exits early with third calf strain of season

TORONTO -- It happened exactly how the Blue Jays feared it would.

Bo Bichette hit a line drive into the right-field corner in the bottom of the sixth Friday, and with a shot the ball would drop, he busted out of the box up the first-base line. Five steps later, Bichette pulled up injured, leaping ahead on his left leg alone.

On July 10 in San Francisco, Bichette was removed from the game with a right calf fascia strain, an injury that didn’t look nearly as serious as this one. After that game, standing in the hallway outside the Blue Jays’ clubhouse at Oracle Park, manager John Schneider said that Bichette had wanted to stay in, but he wanted to keep his shortstop away from a situation where he might be “smelling a hit and bust it out of the box.”

Schneider was onto something. Nine days later, after the Blue Jays’ 5-4 loss to the Tigers at Rogers Centre, Bichette has a right calf strain and is headed for an MRI.

“He was uncomfortable,” Schneider said. “We’ll see how it is tomorrow and go from there, I just feel bad for him. It sucks for him and for us.”

Bichette’s injury history
Bichette is dealing with compounding injuries, which can be worrying. Compare it to someone like Danny Jansen, for example, whose injury history can be chalked up to a certain amount of “bad luck” with tipped balls and pitches hitting him in the hands. In Bichette’s case, we’re seeing soft tissue injuries to the same areas of the body, repeatedly.

In 2023, Bichette hit the IL in early August with patellar tendinitis in his right knee. Eight games after returning from that injury, he left a game in the sixth inning and hit the IL once again with a right quad strain. The words are different, but both injuries came to the area of his right knee.

This time, we’re seeing calf injuries build up on Bichette, also on the right side. Bichette missed 10 days with a right calf strain in late June, then dealt with the fascia strain just prior to the All-Star break. This strain, surely to come with an IL stint this time, is the third notable injury to that area in a month.

Bichette is batting .223 with a .597 OPS. This simply isn’t him. Of all the offensive letdowns the Blue Jays have worked through this season, Bichette’s prolonged slump may be the most surprising -- and it hasn’t turned, like George Springer’s did, for example. These repeated injuries to the load leg in his swing have to be a factor to some extent.

The short term
Whether Bichette misses a few days or a few weeks, No. 5 prospect Leo Jiménez will have an opportunity to get regular reps at shortstop in the big leagues. He’s looked every bit the part since his promotion, batting .348, and comes with the reputation of a rock-solid defender. Nothing about the moment has felt too large for him, either. He has, in the simplest terms, fit.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is still in the early stages of ramping up from his own knee injury, so while Ernie Clement will be a factor at shortstop, Jiménez should get plenty of run.

The Blue Jays need to learn more about Jiménez, too, approaching 2025. Is he a candidate for a role like the one Clement entered the season with -- a part-time utility infielder -- or could he compete for something more permanent? Down the road, when Bichette presumably hits free agency following the ‘25 season, does Jiménez have what it takes to replace him if he ultimately leaves? The coming days -- or weeks -- will be part of that evaluation now.

The long term
Chris Bassitt, short and to the point following another difficult loss, said it best:

“We need him.”

Even as Bichette has struggled, he’s still the one player who could send the Blue Jays on a run. Bichette’s hot streaks are scorching, and if his .597 OPS suddenly turned into 15 hits in 10 games like he’s fully capable of, then perhaps that miracle run is still in there.

For now, though, the Blue Jays’ focus has to be on 2025, which feels like the final year of this core’s window in its current form. The Blue Jays need Bichette, and he, in what will be his final year of club control, needs to put his best foot forward with free agency looming. Stopping this pileup of injuries has to be their first step.