TORONTO – Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was hopeful Bo Bichette could avoid the injured list, but when an MRI revealed a left knee sprain Monday, it became clear the 27-year-old shortstop would have to miss some time.
On Tuesday, the Blue Jays placed Bichette on the injured list, announced that he’ll rest for the remainder of the week and started Ernie Clement at shortstop in his place.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Schneider said from his office Tuesday afternoon. “Any time of year when you lose a guy that’s hitting in the middle of your order and playing short, yeah, it sucks. Hopefully he can get back as soon as he can. But I don’t want to say ‘holy (crap),’ dark cloud over us. You’ve got to continue to move on.”
The manager’s message to his team was simple: the Blue Jays will need all 14 of their position players, so “everyone’s just got to do their thing” instead of trying to make up for Bichette’s absence on their own.
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“When you look at our position players, there’s few, if any, teams that have gotten contributions from the amount of guys we have,” Schneider said. “So that softens the blow a little bit. It’s kind of been our M.O. the whole year: next man up, or who’s going to get the big hit today? So that makes it a little easier.”
With an AL East title and first-round bye at stake in the coming weeks, here’s a closer look at what’s next for Bichette and the Blue Jays:
Context
To this point in the season, Bichette has been durable, playing in 139 of the team’s first 143 games. Not only has he been able to take the field nearly every day, Bichette has also been hitting at an elite level with more hits and doubles than anyone in the American League on the way to a .311 average and .840 OPS.
“Obviously it stinks when you lose someone of his calibre,” starter Max Scherzer told colleague Shi Davidi. “I mean, he’s been such a huge part of this team, this clubhouse and all the contributions he’s doing all over the ball field. He’s been huge for us. But this is an opportunity for other guys to step up. Other teams are dealing with injuries as well. Now we have to deal with it.”
Bichette has had lower-body issues before, though always on his right side. In 2023, he dealt with right knee tendonitis as well as a right quad strain, and a right calf strain that required two separate IL stints in 2024, but his 2025 performance suggests he has recovered from those right-side issues.
Timeline
For the next week, the Blue Jays expect Bichette to stay off his legs as much as possible to “let it calm down a little bit,” Schneider said. After this current homestand, the Blue Jays will “just listen to how he’s doing” and determine next steps from there.
Because the Blue Jays backdated Bichette’s IL stint to Sunday, he’ll technically be eligible to return on Wednesday, Sept. 17 against the Rays, but it stands to reason that he’d need a few days to test his knee on the bases, in the field and at the plate and it doesn’t appear that he’ll resume baseball activities until Monday at the earliest.
If the Blue Jays felt Bichette was going to be ready within five or six days, they might not have put him on the IL at all, preferring to get by with one less bench player for a short stretch. With all of that in mind, there’s no guarantee 10 days on the sidelines will be enough to get Bichette back to game speed.
“I don’t know,” Schneider said. “We’ll see. He’s not going to do anything this week. We obviously want him back as soon as he can, but I don’t have a clear timetable.”
In the meantime…
Clement started at shortstop Tuesday, and appears to be the leading candidate for playing time at shortstop while Bichette recovers, but Schneider also pointed out that Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the Pirates’ primary shortstop this season before the Blue Jays re-acquired him late last month.
“We have capable guys that can play short,” Schneider said. “They’re ready for it. I don’t really think there’s too many things this team isn’t ready for.”
Of course, Clement is dealing with an injury of his own as the utility player recently sustained a small fracture in his left hand. But he has been recovering well, according to Schneider, who said “he’ll be just fine.”
Meanwhile, Addison Barger will likely play more third with Clement shifting over to shortstop, but one infielder who’s not likely to move is Andres Gimenez, the three-time Gold Glove winning second baseman who has started 72 career games at short — though none since 2022.
“We haven’t even talked to him about that to be honest with you, but I think we’ll address it if we have to,” Schneider said. “Everyone’s all-hands on deck right now.”
Impact
To this point in the season, Bichette has generated 3.7 wins above replacement, as calculated by FanGraphs. If we take that to be Bichette’s true talent, then losing him for 15 games would cost the Blue Jays approximately 0.4 wins, which might not sound like much except for two things.
First, Bichette has been the fourth-best hitter in baseball in the second half, so the Blue Jays aren’t just losing Bichette, they’re losing Bichette-on-a-hot-streak. And second, in a division race that’s this close, every win — or partial win — counts. Ultimately, trying to quantify the precise magnitude of the loss here is secondary to the main point, which is that losing Bichette for any duration of time is significant.
“It’s going to take a total team effort,” Scherzer said. “We’re just going to have to find a way to overcome this.”
