Toronto Blue Jays prospect Bo Bichette is enjoying a monster June in single-A Lansing that’s seen his batting average rise to .400 to lead the Midwest League by a large margin.
The 19-year-old shortstop went 7-for-8 with one home run, two doubles and five RBIs during the Lugnuts’ two games in a doubleheader on Thursday. That output was part of a month that’s seen the right-handed hitter bat .456 with a 1.211 OPS over 61 plate appearances.
He entered Saturday batting .400 (90-for-225) on the season, 71 points higher than Detroit Tigers prospect Jake Robson, a native of London, Ont., whose .329 average is second in the league. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bichette’s teammate on Lansing, is hitting .327, good for fourth in the league.
Bichette, son of former major-league slugger Dante, could put himself in some select company this season: The last two Midwest League hitters to finish the season batting over .350 were Oscar Taveras (.386 in 2011) and Mike Trout (.362 in 2010). Bichette is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 5 prospect in the Blue Jays’ organization and No. 100 in all of MLB.
As detailed in a story by Shi Davidi this past spring training, Bichette has been working with a leg kick that’s reminiscent of Blue Jays stars Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson.
“I’m not the biggest guy around. I’m barely six foot, if that, 190 pounds, so I’ve got to get everything I can out of my body,” Bichette said. “So I let myself be natural and swing as hard as I can.”
[relatedlinks]