Bo Bichette Needs To Stay Hot To Secure a Major Payday
Following a difficult 2024, Bo Bichette has returned in 2025 with a performance very similar to his former All-Star seasons.
Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette has bounced back from a tough 2024 season with a 2025 campaign that could bear many similarities to his performances from 2021-2023 that earned him MVP votes for three consecutive years.
Contract rumours and discussions between Bichette and the Jays have been extensive, but given Bo’s troubling performance last season, it’s still up in the air whether he’s put himself in a good position to receive a major extension offer from Blue Jays leadership.
Toronto has been desperate for a return to form from Bichette, and he just might be giving them what they’re looking for in 2025.
Stats taken prior to play on May 26.
Returning to All-Star Form?
Bichette led the American League in hits in both ’21 and ’22, averaging 190 hits over the two seasons.
For three consecutive seasons, he notched 30+ doubles, 20+ home runs, 175+ hits, and a wRC+ 20% better than the league average. He was undoubtedly one of the best hitters — let alone shortstops — in the game over that span.
Bo’s 2024 campaign was a letdown to say the least, both for Bichette and Blue Jays fans. He was plagued with injuries throughout the season and spent three separate stints on the 10-day IL with injuries to his right calf muscle and right middle finger.
His season-to-season shift in production fell off a cliff as a result in 2024, as his slash line from ’23 of 306/.339/.475 dropped to a miserable .225/.277/.322 over 336 plate appearances.
It was clear that Bo wasn’t himself last season and the numbers backed it up. He only tallied 21 extra-base hits in 81 games last season after hitting 20 home runs in each of the prior three seasons, so his power had clearly taken a big hit.
Bichette’s best tool, however, had always been his ability to tally base hits and hit for a respectable batting average. His .225 average in 2024 ranked in the bottom 50 in all of MLB. His barrel rate more than halved itself from the previous season from 9.6% to 4.4%, signifying a lack of solid contact.
Despite the tough year that Bichette had to deal with in ’24, his start to the 2025 season has brought his potential star status back into consideration. He’s slashing .275/.319/.396 with four home runs, and he leads the Blue Jays in hits (61), doubles (15), runs batted in (25), and total bases (88).
According to Baseball Savant, Bichette sits in the top 30% of MLB in expected batting average, hard-hit percentage, average exit velocity, and strikeout percentage among others. Overall, a quick comparison of his rate statistics between ’21-’23 and ’25 shows many similarities in his level of production at the plate.
Bichette sits sixth among Blue Jays hitters in 2025 with a 0.7 fWAR, only behind catchers Alejandro Kirk (1.2), the newly-extended Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1.2), Tyler Heineman (1.1), Ernie Clement (0.9), and Addison Barger (0.8).
His .308 expected batting average is the tenth-best mark in the MLB this season, and the only shortstops above Bichette are fellow All-Star and MVP vote-receiver Bobby Witt Jr. and rookie Jacob Wilson.
Bo’s underlying numbers look very strong and might be indicative of a strong season to come from the shortstop, but he needs to find continuity in his performance to get the deal he’s looking for.
Comparisons to Other Shortstops’ Contracts
Bichette’s resurgent 2025 is certainly a welcome sight for a Blue Jays team that is starved for offensive production this season, but has he shown the team enough to warrant a significant commitment?
There are two sides to this coin: Do the Blue Jays trust that Bo’s 2025 performance is indicative of a long-term return to his All-Star form, or is the sample size simply not enough to constitute a massive deal?
Regardless of which side you stand on, Bichette certainly is not going to receive the same offer he would’ve after the 2023 season. It’s worth comparing Bichette’s situation to those of his fellow shortstops who received lengthy deals over recent seasons.
Over the last two offseasons, shortstops Bobby Witt Jr. and Willy Adames have committed to 11-year and seven-year contracts, respectively, that approximately equate to $26 million per season.
Both of these players have ranked in the upper echelons of baseball in major hitting stats over recent seasons, but their main asset is consistency.
While it is true that Bichette suffered some injury setbacks in 2024, he still tallied more than 300 plate appearances over 81 games and his lack of success is going to make the Jays’ front office question a long-term deal more and more.
If Bo wants to earn himself a massive contract with the Blue Jays, who recently signed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to a $500M extension, his power, defense, and consistency need to be among the league’s best at his position.
The aforementioned Adames and Witt utilized incredible single-season performances to spur themselves into a new contract.
For Adames, he notched a 30/20 season with 112 RBI in 2024 to earn the biggest deal in the history of the San Francisco Giants. Witt, however, nearly stole 50 bases to go along with 30 home runs and nearly 100 RBI in 2023. He followed up his contract signing with a 10.4 fWAR season, setting the Royals’ single-season franchise record.
This isn’t necessarily to say that Bo needs to put up a record-setting season to earn an extension from Toronto, but the team needs to see something special from the shortstop in his prime before committing to him long-term.
How Likely is an Extension?
The fanbase is certainly behind Bichette, as he and Guerrero Jr. have been paired with one another for many years. However, the decision whether Bichette stays in Toronto long-term ultimately comes down to a combination of the Jays’ front office and Bichette himself.
Last season during Toronto’s west coast roadtrip, Bichette sat for an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Carlos Ramirez in San Francisco in which he described his impression of the Bay Area: “It’s beautiful. Watching on TV, I didn’t really know what to expect. Looked too big on TV, honestly, and then coming here, it’s about as good as it gets. It feels like a real ballpark.”
This quote shouldn’t be any inherent reason for Blue Jays fans to panic about Bo leaving Toronto, but it’s indicative of his intent to test the market. Considering the success that Bichette saw between ’21 and ’23 and the lack of a long-term commitment from the Jays, it seems as though the ball is in the Jays’ court.
If there was any time for Bo to capitalize on his early success, it’s come and gone. Discussions about whatever deal Bichette has in store in the near future will revolve around whether he can return to the form of his All-Star years.
Bo Bichette can put all negative impressions of his value to rest if he can continue to be one of Toronto’s best hitters. Even more, he needs to put up a career season if he wants to secure a contract the same size as he might’ve been able to get a few seasons ago.
Written by
Ethan has been writing for Jays Journal, a site on the Fansided network, since 2023 and is fascinated by how sabermetric statistics can assist our understanding…