HARBOR ST. LUCIE – Bo Bichette was back in a game for the first time since his Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Dodgers to end last season.
The goal with his new team is to return to October and after years of coming up short in Toronto, Bichette believes he is bringing some successful postseasons to Queens.
“I learned it’s not too complicated,” Bichette said of winning in the playoffs. “It’s about a group of more than 26 guys coming together on the same page every day. You have conversations about what it looks like and what you want the identity of the team to be. It comes down to the whole locker room being here to win.”
That’s already happening, he hopes, but they’ll also need David Stearns’ plan to combine four middle infielders who often man the entire infield.
The Great Infield Experiment started Saturday with Bichette at third base for their Grapefruit League opener against Miami at Clover Park, which they lost 2-1.
And of course, Bichette was tested with a grounder down the line in his first game at his new position.
The former shortstop backhanded Connor Norby’s ground ball before his long throw took a hit as Jose Rojas first tried to contain the ball.
The play was ruled a mistake by Rojas, who could have made the play, but after leaving the game, Bichette said, “The throw definitely could have been better.”
When asked if it was a harder throw than the one he was used to from the short-distance hole, Bichette said, “I don’t know if it’s harder. It’s different.”
Carlos Mendoza said Bichette was “fine” in his debut at third, adding that he liked what he’s seen from his arm during camp.
He’ll be tested throughout the spring, as Bichette will get plenty of reps at third as he breaks in there, with Jorge Polanco first.
Polanco did not play Saturday, while Marcus Semien made his Mets spring debut at second with Francisco Lindor out, recovering from hand surgery.
“Playing third was fun,” Bichette said of his debut. “I’m learning something new.”
One of the realizations: “I immediately noticed that the point of view is different [than shortstop]. You can’t really look at the batter. You look at the point of contact. There are definitely a lot of things I can learn in the game.”
There will be games throughout the spring – and into the regular season – that Bichette has never seen before, with Polanco experiencing similar challenges at first base.
But the Mets are confident the ex-midfielders will be up to the challenge of getting to the corners, with their bats helping to make up for the learning curves they’re going through defensively.
And they spoke at length about what both veteran players bring to the squad in terms of experience and culture.
For Bichette, he is confident that the results last season in Toronto have translated into similar results with the Mets.
“It’s about the process,” Bichette said of what he did with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. discovered in Toronto. “The organization was put in the hands of Vlad and I at a very young age and we went through a lot of ups and downs. We had some really good times and some bad times, which got us to the point where it was really about winning. It’s not that we didn’t think that was what it was about from the start, but we had to get to the point where it was really the main focus and all we cared about. We had to establish that culture.”
It will be a different challenge with the Mets.
“I think I can bring who I am and how I play on the court and what’s important to me,” Bichette said. “Hopefully that turns into conversations about winning – and that’s already happening.”
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