Bo Bichette seeks guidance from father Dante during early season slump

When people point to the Toronto Blue Jays’ offensive struggles this season, three players have been keyed on.

George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Bo Bichette.

They’re the three found at the top of the Blue Jays’ order all season long, and all three have had their fair share of struggles. The trio’s slash lines have been far from where they need to be, and while Springer and Vladdy each have been taking walks at rates well above league average, it’s not turned into anything negligible for the Jays. Their power has simply disappeared.

Some unlikely heroes have stepped in as skipper John Schneider continues to insist on allowing the trio to work things out. Justin Turner, Daulton Varsho, Davis Schneider and Cavan Biggio have all performed extremely well as the Jays sputter to a 15-15 record through the first 30 games of the season.

And ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Kanas City Royals, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith looked at a few ways the Blue Jays’ offence — which he noted rank 20th in baseball in home runs, 16th in wRC+, and 24th in runs scored — could work their way through this tough stretch.

The three suggestions considered “internal improvement,” if “someone emerges from the minors,” and whether “outside help makes the difference.”

But snuck in the middle of it all was an interesting note: “Bichette worked out in the team’s batting cages alongside his father, former big-leaguer Dante Bichette.”

The work came on Monday ahead of game one of their three-game set against the Royals, a game in which Bichette didn’t play, getting his first rest day since he missed a few games earlier in the season with a neck issue.

His father needs no introduction. He had a long and successful 14-year career, during which he hit 274 home runs and had a career .835 OPS. And for the father-son duo, working together is nothing new.

Dante spent a year working for the Blue Jays as a hitting coach in 2020 but later resigned due to the lockout. The lockout prevented team employees from interacting with players, but his resignation allowed him to continue working with his son.

Tough stretches like these aren’t entirely uncommon for anyone to go through, but for Bichette, this has been the worst of his career. He’s never seen a stretch as long as this where his batting average (.210) and OPS (.568) have been so low. There, however, comes a point in time where a turnaround needs to occur, and for the Blue Jays, they’re hopeful it comes sooner, rather than later.