Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette will miss the rest of the regular season due to a sprained PCL in his left knee, the team announced on Tuesday.
Manager John Schneider is optimistic that Bichette will return in some capacity for the postseason.
“He’s not gonna be back for the regular season,” Schneider said. “But I think just working hard to be back as soon as he can after.”
Bichette, 27, was in the midst of a bounce-back season and, despite missing Toronto’s last eight games, still leads the majors in hits (181) and doubles (44).
A year ago, he set career lows in offensive categories, while playing in only 81 games, the fewest since he became a full-time player in 2021.
Bichette suffered the knee sprain on Sept. 6 while sliding into home plate at Yankee Stadium. He was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 7.
Bichette sought a second opinion and, on Monday, Dr. Dan Cooper in Dallas confirmed the initial diagnosis: no structural damage and no surgery required.
“Nothing further required,” Schneider said, “other than kind of rest and rehab and getting back as soon as he can.”
Since July 4, Bichette has hit .373 with 24 doubles and 45 RBIs. He is third in the majors with a .311 batting average.
Andres Gimenez, who came over from Cleveland as a free agent this season, has moved from second base to shortstop and has graded out very well defensively.
Toronto entered play on Tuesday three games ahead of Detroit for the best record in the American League and five games up on the Yankees for the AL East lead. Should the Blue Jays win the division and clinch one of the top two seeds in the AL, they would not start the playoffs until Oct. 4, buying Bichette four additional days to return.
Toronto has gone 6-2 in Bichette’s absence, but his bat would make a tremendous difference in the postseason.
“In a perfect world, if he can come back and play short, yeah, great,” Schneider said. “But if we can get his bat back, I’ll take it.”
