So it’s pretty much confirmed that Bo Bichette will get called up this season if he settles in to triple-A and starts hitting. Reports from both Shi Davidi today on radio and Ben Wagner during broadcast. Reiterating reports from one-two weeks ago.
I’ll paraphrase, but Shi said the organization was very impressed with Bichette during spring training (so were other people that watched him like Blair and MacArthur). Original plan to bring him up in 2020 started to change after spring training. He seems to be ahead of schedule in his development at shortstop and has potential to not only stick, but “be impactful defensively”. Bichette has been putting in double time in his fielding/throwing and has impressed coaches. If the bat is ready, he will get called this year.
Does this mean Galvis gets traded or hits the bench? I’m honestly not sure. Bichette will play everyday though if he gets promoted. If I had to wager during spring, I’d thought he would be here April 2020, but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore.
This could of course just be a carrot for Bichette to work extra hard in triple-A, but I don’t think the org would make it this clear (and hyping up fans through media) unless they’re serious about it and has a realistic shot of happening.
I estimated Biggio would be up before June (I pegged May 20 against Red Sox) when most people thought it was happening @All-Star break, he came up May 24.
Bichette is more difficult to peg since it seems like everything depends on his performance. If I had to make an educated guess, it’s either somewhere @July 22 against Cleveland or like @August 8 against the Yankees. This is all assuming he is hitting and remains healthy though.