It took a little longer than expected, but Bo Bichette made his major-league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays Monday in a 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.
The 21-year-old shortstop recorded his first hit on his first swing during his first at-bat as he finished the game 1-for-4. He reflected on the experience Tuesday during an appearance on Prime Time Sports.
Bichette said while nerves didn’t affect him during the game itself, he had some serious butterflies in the 24 hours leading up to opening pitch.
“I thought I could’ve thrown up at some point during the day,” Bichette told Jeff Blair and Richard Deitsch. “I was pretty nervous, excited, I don’t know what the word is but once I stepped on the field for [the pre-game] stretch at 7 o’clock or whatever it was honestly everything went away. Every bit of anxiousness went away.”
Bichette became the third high-end rookie to debut in the Blue Jays infield this season, joining Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Cavan Biggio.
All three came up through the minors together and each happens to have a father who is a retired MLB all-star.
Bichette said the familiar faces helped ease his nerves.
“We’ve been together through everything pretty much, so for me – I was talking about it after the game [Monday] – to be able to look to my right and see Vladdy and look to my left and see Cavan and then on the mound [Thomas] Pannone, it was three familiar faces right in front of me and it definitely helped me calm down a lot.
“I think having us together, being together as long as we have been, it’ll only help us and help us continue to get better.”
Bichette slashed .275/.333/.473 in 56 games with the Buffalo Bisons in triple-A before being called up.
The Orlando, Fla., was ranked as the No. 8 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline’s latest rankings.
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