Bo Bichette dug in in the batter's box, facing teammate Jose Berrios in the first live batting practice of the Toronto Blue Jays' spring training.
With the day's activities winding down, players, coaches, and team staff had gathered around the backstop at Field 1 of the Blue Jays' player development centre to watch the showdown.
After battling for most of the at-bat, Bichette made solid contact and sent the pitch to deep-left centre field. After a pause a coach called out "FOUL BALL!" to much laughter.
Toronto's shortstop laughed too, but otherwise Bichette has been all business at spring training this year. He has worked with his father, former major leaguer Dante Bichette, as well as former Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the off-season.
His biggest takeaway from working with Tulowitzki?
"Probably work ethic, but not even amount of work, just the intensity in the work," said the younger Bichette in the Blue Jays clubhouse in Dunedin, Fla. "Also not really caring what you look like, just get the job done.
"So I focus a lot on simple things. It sounds silly, but catching the ball and making good throws instead of a lot of the you know, trying to look smooth and stuff like that."
The 24-year-old Bichette wouldn't quite say it's about working smarter, not harder.
"To be honest, it's a little bit of both," said Bichette. "You've got to put a lot of work in but as intense as you can."
It's not like Bichette lacked effort in 2021.
He was named an American League all-star last season, hitting an AL-best 191 hits with a .298 batting average, 29 home runs, 102 RBIs, and an .828 OPS.
For Bichette, working hard is a tribute to his teammates.
"I think that that's probably what the best teams do is they're more prepared than anybody else," he said. "They get out there and they work when they feel tired. That's the kind of standard that we're going for here."
Bichette turned 73 double plays in 2021 — among the top 10 in the majors — but he also led the bigs in errors at short. The arrival of Matt Chapman at third base is expected to help Bichette with his defence.
"One thing that Chapman does, he plays D and plays in the hole. So we can always move Bo more to up the middle," said Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo, about Bichette having to cover less of the infield.
Bichette had a hit and scored in the Blue Jays' 8-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers in Dunedin on Friday.
He and right-handed starter Alek Manoah had their contracts renewed for the 2022 season on Wednesday after the pre-arbitration players and the Blue Jays couldn't reach agreements on new deals.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2022.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
