Blue Jays Manager John Schneider Explains Bo Bichette's Path to Making ALDS Roster
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Winning the American League East was big for several reasons for the Toronto Blue Jays. It allowed them to avoid playing an AL Wild Card Series to reset their pitching. It also allowed some injured players to rehab with the chance to return. One of those players is Bo Bichette, who was injured last month against the New York Yankees.
Bichette’s availability for the series has been a topic of discussion all week, and on Friday, manager John Schneider revealed what his shortstop needs to do to be on the roster for the five-game series.
John Schneider Reveals Steps Bo Bichette Must Complete to Play in ALDS
Bichette was injured on Sept. 6 against the Yankees in New York with a left knee sprain. He was put on the injured list on Sept. 9. On Friday, Schneider said that Bichette will need to run the bases and hit before a decision is made whether or not he’ll be on the ALDS roster.
“Day-to-day still,” said Schneider. “Trying to do more every single day. Coming right down to the wire. We’ll see how today goes, and make that decision tomorrow.”
It is not as easy as Bichette being able to run the bases and swinging the bat. For him to be on the roster against New York, Schneider said he would have to play more than a pinch-hitting role. He even referred to Kirk Gibson and his pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers as an example of them needing more from Bichette in each game.
“I would say, for him to be on (ALDS roster), he’d have to play pretty regularly,” Schneider said. “Just the way we deploy our guys, we don’t want to deviate too much from what we’ve been doing. So it’s not saving him for a Kirk Gibson at-bat once a game that may not come. He’d have to be pretty regular in some capacity.”
If Bichette can DH, there is a good chance that he will make the roster. If not, then it's unlikely he will. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. may have dropped a hint earlier this week about Bichette's availability. Playing shortstop seems out of the equation at this point, but it will be Bichette's bat that the Blue Jays will miss. He was slashing .311/.357/.483 at the time of his injury.
The roster against the Yankees has to be submitted on Saturday morning ahead of Game 1 at 4:08 p.m. ET.
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Scott Roche has covered both college and professional sports for nearly three decades for various outlets. Scott has covered the MLB, NHL, and college sports and he is someone always looking for a good rumor, no matter which sport it is.