Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider says star shortstop Bo Bichette is still “day-to-day” with the knee injury that has kept him out of the lineup since Sept. 6 and it’s “coming down to the wire” as to his availability for the American League Division Series.
Saturday’s Game 1 kicks off the series with the New York Yankees, who were coincidentally the Jays’ opponents in the game in which Bichette was injured. The Blue Jays need to submit a roster for the series early on Saturday.
Schneider says Bichette is still day-to-day, running is going to be a big test Blue Jays manager John Schneider updates Bo Bichette’s status ahead of Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees and says that running is going to be a big test for the star shortstop to be cleared to play.
Asked what he needs to see from the two-time All-Star, Schneider said he’s looking for a couple of benchmarks.
“Running, for one,” Schneider said. “See how that feels, and probably hit some velocity, whether that’s in the cage or from some live pitchers that we do have here from our Triple-A group.”
Schneider says that for the team to put Bichette on the roster, he will need to be available.
“For him to be on, he’d have to play pretty regularly,” Schneider said. “Just with the way we deploy our guys, we don’t want to deviate too much from what we’ve been doing. So it’s not saving him for a Kirk Gibson [1988 World Series] at-bat once a game that may not come. He’d have to be pretty regular in some capacity.”
A native of Orlando, Bichette is a free agent at season’s end.
He finished his year batting .311 with 181 hits, 18 home runs, 94 runs batted in and an OPS of .840.
