On Cavan Biggio’s role
2 years ago
After a recent spat with a Toronto Blue Jays pundit about Cavan Biggio, I wanted to write a post. No, this is not about his struggles hitting the fastball, or his poor start to the season (trust me, I wanted to) this is an article about the positives that Cavan Biggio brings.
I’m definitely a fan of Biggio as he, Vlad and Bo playing for New Hampshire took me from caring just about the Major League team, to focus on prospects a lot more. Biggio played a key part in that championship-winning Double-A team and I fully believe he has room to grow.
Firstly, I will mention the good things I like about his bat. Even with a low batting average, even with striking out looking eighteen times, Biggio has a fantastic eye. His patience at the plate is a double edge sword, one could say.
With all that said, what is Biggio to the Jays? Where does he fit into the lineup? How will he be used in 2021? Well reader, this is what I will answer on this blog.
The short answer is that he’s a better version of Brock Holt. Biggio has more power and gets on base more, while not hitting for as good of an average; however, where the comparison kicks in is that Biggio, at least in 2021, does not have one position.
Our positionless walkman is an above-average defender at second according to the defensive run saved metric. This by far is his best defensive position. Elsewhere, he struggles, especially at third base. Surprisingly, at least to me, he has saved one run in the 56 innings he’s played in the outfield, albeit, he has a negative DRS over his career.
So far in his career, he’s played at 1B for 35 innings, 2B for 1024 2/3 innings, 3B for 317 innings, LF for 9 innings, CF for 23 innings and RF for 220. This is to say, Cavan Biggio is one versatile man. In fact, if they ever need a position player to pitch, I fully expect him to throw 70 mph fastballs. Furthermore, his defense at third has improved drastically compared to the start of the season. After 6 errors, he’s played a clean game since recovering from a hand injury.
Remember that Brock Holt comparison I had made? Let’s see where he’s played at defense. 1B 2B, 3B, SS, every outfield position and 1.1 innings of pitching. This leads me to believe that they want that incredibly versatile player that can play anywhere and it makes sense, as they were looking into Brock Holt in 2020.
To me, Cavan is a bench player, but this is not negative. He’s a left-handed batter that has experience at different roles and the best way to deploy him is to plug him in whenever a position player is resting.
Moreover, this team is not a contender with Biggio playing at third. This can be remedied by trading for a third baseman, such as Josh Donaldson or Kris Bryant. This would remove Biggio from the starting lineup on a game-to-game basis, but will allow him to pinch-hit as well as playing him as a utility player wherever he is needed.
While I don’t believe that trading for an all-star third baseman is in management’s plans this season, I do believe this would be the best way to utilize Cavan Biggio.
If you like my articles, I basically angrily live tweet @Brennan_L_D, so catch up with me there.
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