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Blue Jays: Bo Bichette’s recent hot stretch raises questions about his impending free agency
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Photo credit: © Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
Nicholas Paleolog
Aug 8, 2025, 07:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 7, 2025, 18:34 EDT
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It wasn’t long ago that Bo Bichette was considered one of the most exciting young shortstops in all of baseball — a pure hitter who could seemingly make contact with anything and someone opposing teams always had to gameplan for. But then 2024 happened for the Blue Jays infielder.
Injuries derailed last season early on, and even when he was healthy, Bichette didn’t look like himself. His bat looked slower, his timing was off, and for the first time in his career, he was easy to pitch to. With just one year left on his contract — and growing uncertainty surrounding both him and the Toronto Blue Jays — questions about his long-term future became impossible to ignore.
Now? Those doubts have been put to rest.
Bo Bichette is playing inspired baseball again, and there’s a strong argument to be made that this might be the best stretch of his career.

The resurgence

At the time of writing, Bichette owns a .301 average with a .340 OBP, a .475 slugging percentage, and an OPS of .816. But as solid as those numbers are, they don’t tell the full story.
Where Bichette has truly stood out is in high-leverage situations. He currently leads the Blue Jays with 78 RBIs — 16 more than the next best on the team, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — and ranks ninth across all of Major League Baseball. Even more impressive? With runners in scoring position, Bichette is hitting a scorching .378, the third-best mark in the entire league. That’s the kind of number that front offices — and agents — pay very close attention to.
This isn’t just a hot streak either. Bichette’s approach at the plate has been intelligent and well-rounded all season. According to Baseball Savant, Bichette is making high-quality contact against just about everything. His weakest pitch type has been the breaking ball — and even then, he’s hitting .288 against it. Among the six pitches he sees most often (four-seam fastballs, sinkers, sliders, cutters, changeups, and curveballs), the lowest batting average he has on any of them is .298. That’s not just elite — that’s complete.
Bichette appears to be back. And that brings us to the question on everyone’s mind…

What will Bo Bichette be worth in free agency?

Assuming he finishes strong and stays healthy, Bo Bichette is set to hit the open market at age 27, typically considered the prime for free-agent value. So what kind of contract could he be looking at?
To help answer that, we reached out to Blue Jays beat reporter Keegan Matheson via text, who offered some insight on Bichette’s market value.
“Coming into the year, I used the Willy Adames deal (7 years, $182 million) as a rough comp for what Bichette could get in free agency with a solid season,” Matheson said. “He’s going to hit the market at 27, so the term of his deal could push the total money higher, but using the $25 million per year structure is probably a good starting point.”
That alone would place Bichette’s value just under the $200 million mark, but the ceiling could be much higher depending on how teams project his future defensively.
“Bo’s market is going to have a huge gap between its floor and ceiling,” Matheson continued. “I’m expecting teams to project his defensive future much differently, so while one team may see a shortstop, another will see a 2B/3B with declining speed. It only takes a couple of teams to go big, though, and this year should wipe away Bichette’s 2024.”
When asked whether he’d expect Bichette to earn more or less than the Adames deal, Matheson leaned toward the over.
“It’s all guesswork still, but I’d bet on the ‘over’ for the total money just because I expect him to get more than 7 years given the age he’s hitting the market at.”

What’s Next for Bichette and the Blue Jays?

If Bichette’s current play continues, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t, then he could command north of $200 million on the open market. That puts the Blue Jays in a challenging position.
They’ll need to decide whether they’re willing to pay a premium to lock him up long-term or risk losing their franchise shortstop in free agency.
To this point, Bichette hasn’t expressed any discontent with playing in Toronto, and there’s still time for the front office to work something out. But if they wait too long, they might find themselves outbid by teams willing to pay for a proven bat and a big-game performer.
For now, though, Bo Bichette is back — and Blue Jays fans have every reason to be excited.
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