The Toronto Blue Jays made a roster move ahead of Saturday’s game with the Detroit Tigers.
The team announced that Bo Bichette has been placed on the 10-day Injured List with a right calf strain and that infielder Addison Barger has been called up from the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
Bichette was lifted from Toronto’s game against the San Francisco Giants back on July 10 after hurting his calf while making a defensive play in the infield. He missed the final game of that series and then didn’t suit up for any of the team’s three games in their subsequent series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After having a few days off for the All-Star break, Bichette started for the Blue Jays in their series opener against the Tigers on Friday. He went 1-for-3 with a single and was pulled from the game in the seventh inning. It seems Bichette tweaked that same calf while running out of the batter’s box after his hit.
#BlueJays Bo Bichette left tonight’s game with a leg injury.
It occurred on this play. Appears to have tweaked his leg right out the box. pic.twitter.com/pfBli0g5Py
— Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) July 20, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
It’s been a difficult year for Bichette, whose struggles can be traced back to another injury suffered at around the same time last season. Just before last year’s trade deadline, Bichette hurt his right knee while running the bases in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. He spent the first two-and-a-half weeks of August on the Injured List and went on the shelf again in early September.
Bichette came out of that game against Baltimore last year with a .321 batting average and .847 on-base plus slugging percentage on the season. After the knee injury, Bichette posted a .254 batting average and a .694 OPS over 130 plate appearances in August and September.
The 2024 season has been the least productive of Bichette’s career by a significant margin. His .223 batting average and .597 OPS are both career lows and the shortstop has only four home runs through 330 plate appearances in 2024 after hitting 20, 24, and 29 in the past three seasons.