Beau Bichette During the World Series, he sprained the ACL in his left knee. He was clearly limited physically, but in 18 at-bats he had five hits (all singles) and drove in three runs.
Of course, Bichette’s focus for the next day or two will be entirely on the World Series. He did address the injury ahead of tonight’s Game 6, telling Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith that he doesn’t expect to need offseason surgery. Bichette injured in collision with Yankees catcher at home plate Austin Wells September 6th. He was out for nearly seven weeks before returning for the Fall Classic.
If this were the regular season, Bichette would obviously still be on the injured list. However, he’s gotten to the point where he can hit the ball and play regular defense. The Jays moved him to second base while retaining Andres Jimenez Played shortstop to slightly reduce his defensive workload. They used him as the designated hitter in Game 5 George Springer Adjusted his side. However, it’s unlikely that Springer will return and return to DH for tonight’s game. Bichette walked toward the keystone again.
The 27-year-old infielder (28 in March) is days away from hitting free agency for the first time in his career. He is widely regarded as the second best player in the class Kyle Tucker. A knee injury could add to already existing questions about how long he can last at shortstop. There will be some teams that prefer Bichette as a second baseman, but he’s a threat to lead the league in hits every year and hit .311/.357/.483 in the regular season.
Bichette spoke with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic earlier this week about his decision to play through the injury. He admitted that he “didn’t really expect to make huge progress in his recovery” during the game. Still, Bichette said he was willing to “risk it all” to win the World Series. He took issue with free agency tonight. Bichette admitted during today’s pregame media conference that while he has thought about his future at times this season, he now “has a chance to win a World Series” (Video via TSN).
