So now that Bo is gone we can start to think about his legacy and where he ranks with the greatest Blue Jay shortstops.
There aren't a lot of guys who I'd put on this list. Just 14 Jays are listed with 'primary position' as shortstop with 750+ PA as a Blue Jay all time (via FanGraphs), I made it that low so anyone who had 2 seasons or more as a semi-regular would qualify. So to help dig in here is chart with assorted stats...
| WAR | Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Name | G | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wRC+ | BsR | Off | Def | Av | Av/650 | FG | BR | Series | G | PA | BA | OBP | Slg | OPS | SB | CS |
| Tony Fernandez | 1450 | 5900 | 60 | 704 | 613 | 172 | .297 | .353 | .412 | 107 | -2.5 | 50.6 | 99.9 | 36.3 | 4.0 | 35.1 | 37.5 | 4 | 24 | 98 | 333 | 381 | 402 | 784 | 5 | 1 |
| Bo Bichette | 748 | 3292 | 111 | 438 | 437 | 60 | .294 | .337 | .469 | 122 | -1.6 | 85.1 | 1.8 | 20.5 | 4.0 | 20 | 21 | 4 | 13 | 52 | 311 | 385 | 400 | 785 | 1 | 0 |
| Alex Gonzalez | 890 | 3634 | 83 | 407 | 350 | 85 | .245 | .304 | .386 | 77 | -0.3 | -112.2 | 65.5 | 8.85 | 1.6 | 8 | 9.7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Marco Scutaro | 289 | 1272 | 19 | 176 | 120 | 21 | .275 | .362 | .384 | 101 | 2.3 | 4.5 | 23.7 | 8.5 | 4.3 | 7.2 | 9.8 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Yunel Escobar | 338 | 1464 | 24 | 167 | 115 | 9 | .272 | .335 | .373 | 94 | -4.2 | -14.3 | 19.9 | 7.2 | 3.2 | 5.8 | 8.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| José Reyes | 305 | 1385 | 23 | 188 | 122 | 61 | .289 | .334 | .404 | 105 | 11.6 | 19.1 | 2.9 | 6.9 | 3.2 | 7.2 | 6.6 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Manuel Lee | 753 | 2357 | 16 | 231 | 199 | 26 | .254 | .304 | .323 | 75 | -1.6 | -71.1 | 48.6 | 6.45 | 1.8 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 5 | 20 | 65 | 180 | 215 | 230 | 445 | 0 | 0 |
| Tony Batista | 324 | 1364 | 80 | 186 | 238 | 7 | .258 | .301 | .507 | 97 | -0.8 | -5.4 | 23.7 | 6.2 | 3.0 | 6.3 | 6.1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 238 | 987 | 36 | 101 | 122 | 2 | .250 | .313 | .414 | 95 | -6.5 | -12.2 | 15.9 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 5 | 20 | 83 | 215 | 253 | 380 | 633 | 0 | 0 |
| John McDonald | 549 | 1453 | 17 | 160 | 140 | 26 | .243 | .278 | .340 | 60 | 2.2 | -69.5 | 35.5 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 5.2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Chris Woodward | 363 | 1188 | 26 | 147 | 135 | 6 | .245 | .298 | .395 | 76 | -1.3 | -38.8 | 16.9 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 2.7 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Ryan Goins | 449 | 1397 | 20 | 127 | 142 | 6 | .228 | .275 | .335 | 64 | -1.6 | -60.8 | 20.6 | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 3 | 14 | 46 | 146 | 186 | 244 | 430 | 0 | 0 |
| Russ Adams | 286 | 993 | 17 | 125 | 113 | 15 | .247 | .313 | .372 | 78 | 3.7 | -23.7 | -17.7 | -0.35 | -0.2 | -0.7 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Alfredo Griffin | 982 | 3655 | 13 | 382 | 231 | 78 | .249 | .280 | .327 | 62 | -13.4 | -176.0 | 28.8 | -2.3 | -0.4 | -3.2 | -1.4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
I figured the more stats the better - easier to get a picture of each career this way imo.
Extras...
- Fernandez had 4 Gold Gloves, and 4 ASG appearances as a Jay, once making the top 10 in MVP voting even.
- Bo made 2 ASG's and peaked at 11th for MVP and led the league in hits twice.
- Tony Batista made an ASG as a Jay (hit 41 HR that year playing only at 3B)
- Alfredo Griffin won Rookie of the Year as a Jay, and also made an ASG sorta - he only got in due to Alan Trammell pulling out at the last minute and he was there so to avoid the AL being short handed he was named as a replacement (was there to support his friend Dámaso García). Griffin also was on-deck when Joe Carter touched them all in '93 - imagine if they walked Carter and Griffin became the big hero - now that would've been weird and cool as it was his final ML game.
So going through the stats even lightly it is clear Fernandez is #1 and Bo #2 by a mile. Both averaged 4 WAR per 650 PA as a Jay (using an average of BR WAR and FG WAR) which is beaten only by Marco Scutaro who was here only briefly but played his head off while here. Found it very funny to see their playoff OPS were only 1 point apart over 4 playoff series each. The quick 2 and done wild cards cut Bo's PA down drastically vs Fernandez though. Fernandez' final 2 times as a Jay were odd - played 3B in the late 90's here, hit 400 over half a season, then went off to Japan for a year before going to Milwaukee briefly then being traded back here for a final farewell as a PH - thus far I think he is the only player to have his name put on the level of excellence while he was still playing - I was there to see it, we thought it was to be his final game, but they went on the road and he played 4 road games and 2 more home games to finish the year.
So have hope Bo fans - if Fernandez could have 4 tours of duty here, Bo could return someday too, perhaps like Tony to win a World Series title. Stranger things have indeed happened.