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Blue Jays 40-man Roster Review: Cavan Biggio was one of Toronto’s best players down the stretch in 2023
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Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA Today
Ryley Delaney
Jan 19, 2024, 11:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 19, 2024, 11:02 EST
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Cavan Biggio’s career has been an interesting one, to say the least.
The former fifth-round draft pick’s debut season in the big leagues with the Blue Jays was a great one, as he slashed .234/.364/.429 with 16 home runs (still a career-high) in 430 plate appearances, along with a 16.5 BB% and a 28.6 K% for a 115 wRC+ and a 2.7 fWAR. Biggio followed that up with a strong pandemic-shortened 2020 season, where he slashed .250/.375/.432 with eight homers in 265 plate appearances for a 122 wRC+ and 1.2 fWAR.
His results took a nosedive in 2021 when he slashed .224/.322/.356 with seven homers in 294 plate appearances. His BB% dropped from 16.5% to 15.5% all the way down to 12.6%. Moreover, his 84 wRC+ and -0.2 fWAR were both career-worsts.
The 2022 season wasn’t great for Biggio either, as he slashed .202/.318/.350 with six homers in 303 plate appearances for a 97 wRC+ and a much improved 1.4 fWAR. Still, his 28.1 K% was the second-worst of his career, while his BB% was a new career-low of 12.5%.
While many fans were calling for the Blue Jays to move on from Biggio amidst these mediocre performances, the Blue Jays stuck with him. He started off slow in 2023 and then found his groove and was one of the team’s best hitters down the stretch.
Biggio had a paltry.185 batting average and .608 OPS at the end of May but June seemed to be a month where things started to click. He had a couple of huge home runs for the Blue Jays during the month of June and started to draw more walks. Between the start of June and the end of the season, Biggio posted a .255 batting average and .747 OPS, his best stretch since 2019 and 2020.
The hope for the Blue Jays is that they can get the second-half version of Biggio throughout the entirety of 2024. Biggio brings the team a lot of value with his positional versatility and having a productive left-handed bat playing all around the diamond makes life easier for manager John Schneider and Co.
In 2023, Biggio played 354 innings at second base, 201 innings in right field, 107 innings at first base, 57 innings at third, and even one inning at shortstop. If the team doesn’t bring back Matt Chapman in free agency, Biggio will likely see more time playing at third base in 2024.
Like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, Biggio also has two more years left of team control before he’ll be able to hit the open market. The Blue Jays and Biggio avoided arbitration earlier this month with a one-year, $4.21 million deal, a modest raise from the $2.8 million he made in 2023.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads @Brennan_L_D.

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