Blue Jays' Bichette still contributing as recovery moves 'quicker’ than anticipated

TORONTO – Eager to contribute while sidelined by patellar tendonitis in his right knee, Bo Bichette is watching the Toronto Blue Jays through a bit of a different lens, breaking down what he picks up from the dugout and sharing anything that might help on the field.

“When you're playing, you're in the game more, obviously, and you have more of a feel for what's going on, but you're more focused on what you need to do and what you need to accomplish to help the team,” explains the all-star shortstop, who during his absence has routinely sidled up to teammates, sometimes with an iPad in hand, offering up a nugget of knowledge. “When you're sitting on the bench, you see what everybody's doing so it's definitely a different perspective. …

“It's really tough to tell somebody about mechanics or anything like that in the middle of a game. So I just try to help with what I see, if I feel like they're rushed too much, or if I feel like they're looking for the wrong pitch, things like that. It's not easy, but I do my best.”

In doing so, the 25-year-old is avoiding going too stir-crazy as he recuperates, something Bichette feels he’s managed better than expected thus far. Helping, too, is that his recovery is “moving along a lot quicker than anybody anticipated,” and while he didn’t want to speculate on a timeline, a rehab assignment at triple-A Buffalo in the coming days is a possibility, perhaps setting up a return shortly afterwards, barring setbacks.

A lot needs to fall into place first for that to happen.

On the weekend, Bichette ran the bases and took grounders and the plan was for him to do it again Monday, during the team’s day off, before making any further decisions.

“It's been pretty good running,” Bichette says of his knee. “I guess I still have a little bit of second-guessing on braking down after the sprint, but it feels pretty good.

“Hitting has been pretty seamless from Day 1. I didn't hit until three days after (the injury) but I was never worried about hitting. Defence I've done pretty much everything except for plays way to my right, slow rollers, or plays way to my left. That's something that I'm going to have to accomplish. But so far everything feels good and comfortable.”

All that would be tested during a rehab assignment aimed at “continuing to build confidence in (the knee) rather than needing the at-bats.” Bichette last played July 31, when he came out of a 4-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles after rounding first and stopping hard en route to second.

He’d experienced “pain in that area” before “doing the same thing, but it was always just kind of like nagging, never anything crazy,” says Bichette. “So when I felt the pain, I had a feeling of what it might be, it was just probably 10 times worse than it had ever felt. I personally wasn't worried that anything was like, seriously wrong, but obviously it hurt enough to get me out of there.”

And it ate into his enviable durability.

To that point, he’d missed only one game this season, June 21 at the Miami Marlins with thumb discomfort, but has been out for 13 more since.

“I actually feel like I've handled (the absence) a little bit better than I thought,” says Bichette. “It's tough. I want to be out there. My goal is to play every game. Obviously, I wasn't going to anyways, but my next goal was 161. I'm not going to be able to accomplish that, but right now I'm just focused on getting back as quick as I can. 

“Knowing how I am, I've tried to make sure that I'm really paying attention to what's going on and not trying to push it quicker than it (needs). But it feels really good right now and hopefully I can be back soon.”

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BELLINGER BANGS: A vision of what might have been for the Blue Jays came over the weekend when the resurgent Cody Bellinger went 4-for-12 with a homer, three RBIs and three runs in helping the Chicago Cubs take two of three at Rogers Centre.

Before the former NL MVP signed a one-year pillow deal that guarantees $17.5 million with a mutual option for 2024, he was pursued by the Blue Jays and Bellinger says, “I definitely considered it. I've heard nothing but good things about everything. It was definitely an option.”

Ultimately, though, he joined the Cubs, sold on “the ability to go out and play and play how I know I could play, to get that opportunity right.”

Bellinger capitalized and has been among the hottest hitters in baseball for an extended stretch, batting .404/.440/.657 in 182 plate appearances over 44 games since June 24, with 11 homers and 37 RBIs. At 4.2 bWAR and counting, he’s on pace for his best season since winning NL MVP in 2019, turning things around after consecutive down years that prompted the Dodgers to non-tender him last fall.

Cubs manager David Ross praised Bellinger’s “consistent mindset coming in and a belief that these are the things I want to change and I worked on the off-season, whether it was strength, his health and swing mechanic stuff. … Outside of a little bit of a slow start, he's been really good for us consistently this year. That consistency has created a belief in himself and a confidence in himself where once a guy like that who's has had success in the past, it's really easy for them to build on that and have that.”

All of it sets up Bellinger, sure to decline his end of the mutual option, to be the top position player available in a free-agent class decidedly lacking in offensive impact. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani is clearly in a class of his own, with Matt Chapman and Teoscar Hernandez among the other headliners.

Understandably, Bellinger isn’t sharing his plans for the future, describing free agency as an “interesting process” and adding that “I've loved my time here (with the Cubs). I love the fans, love Wrigley. We've got a great team. I've definitely enjoyed my time here.”

As for returning to the market, “I understand the process a little more, a little different circumstances hopefully this year, and just kind of see what we've got. But I mean, honest to God, I'm not really thinking about it, I try to focus on the game every day.”

His performance clearly demonstrates that, Bellinger saying, “I feel really consistent, really, really good with myself day in and day out.”

How teams price his two years of struggle into their offers for the 28-year-old this fall will be interesting to see. But for a Blue Jays team that has four key pending free agents in Chapman, Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Belt and Whit Merrifield and potentially $70 million coming off the books, circling back to Bellinger, the way they did after twice missing out on Kevin Gausman, certainly seems to make a lot of sense.

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DANNER’S UNUSUAL DEBUT: Hagen Danner was on one-hour of sleep Friday when he began his extended trek to Toronto for his big-league debut, feeling nothing but happiness as he went from Worcester to Boston to Buffalo to the Rogers Centre, driving himself by car after doubling back to fetch his passport.

Hours later he was on the mound, fulfilling a dream that nearly disappeared when he gave up on catching after the 2019 season. Never mind that he made it through only seven pitches before suffering a left oblique strain, he’d finally made it.

“No matter what happened, it was the best thing that's ever happened in my life,” says the 24-year-old. “Going out there and running in from the bullpen, the fans cheering, it was like a movie, honestly, that's what it felt like. I know it was quick, but I was able to, while I was out there, actually take a look around and see how beautiful it was.”

Danner began his transition to pitching during the pandemic season of 2020, beaten down by the rigours of trying to hit every day. “I kind knew going into it the switch was my only option,” he says.

With a big fastball and a promising slider, he quickly made progress and was pushing toward the majors last year when elbow issues slowed him. This year, he quickly rose to triple-A Buffalo after a brief, dominant stint at double-A, and put himself on track with a high-90s fastball “consistently in the zone and my slider really working for me.”

During the drive from Buffalo to Toronto, he reflected “on what a journey it's been.”

“It's felt like I've been in the minor leagues for so long but I realized that I'm still 24, I'm young and I got to the big-leagues by the time I told myself I wanted to,” Danner continues. “To me that's insane. From catching and struggling there, mental health, and all that stuff, getting here made it all worth it.”

As for what happened on the mound, “I have no idea,” he says. After retiring Seiya Suzuki on two pitches, he felt something on a first-pitch slider to Yan Gomes. The pain increased over his next four pitches, two sliders and two down-velocity sliders, before he doubled over, unable to continue.

“It was weird, thoughts were racing when it happened. I tried to get through the batter. When I threw the one fastball up and it got to 3-2, it was not a good feeling,” he says.

Still, that won’t be Danner’s lasting memory. He was able to celebrate the debut, truncated as it was, with his family and friends afterwards. “I'll be back from this injury. I'll be all right,” he says. “I got the first one out of the way and hope for a lot more.”