Toronto Blue Jays: Cavan Biggio making strides in double-A
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats continue to showcase the Toronto Blue Jays prospects coming through the pipeline including Cavan Biggio.
The Toronto Blue Jays have made it a point to restock the prospect cabinet and in just a couple of years, there have been signs of progress being made especially in double-A.
Everybody is aware of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette who are among the top 10 prospects in baseball with Vlad Jr. at the top of almost every list. The no. 19 prospect on MLB pipeline’s top 30 prospect list is Cavan Biggio and like Vlad Jr. and Bichette he has strong bloodlines in the game and is starting to make a name for himself.
The 23-year-old is benefitting from being a part of a stacked lineup with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats leading all hitters in the Double-A Eastern League with 19 home runs. He is also second on the Fisher Cats in OBP (.402) and OPS (.957) behind Vlad Jr. which is no small accomplishment.
It has been a quiet rise through the system for the Texas native who was originally selected by the Philadelphia Phillies but decided to go to Notre Dame. That allowed the Blue Jays to scoop him up in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB draft where they got Bichette in the second round.
So how has the son of Hall of Famer Craig Biggio turned into an intriguing prospect? Back in June, John Lott of the Athletic wrote a feature on the left-handed hitter who started to make adjustments to his swing in the offseason which has complemented his raw power.
"More from Tip of the TowerCam Phillips making his mark on Toronto Argonauts offenceToronto Argonauts: 4 storylines ahead of matchup against RedblacksFederico Bernardeschi ready for new challenge with Toronto FCToronto Argonauts overcome Roughriders in entertaining Touchdown AtlanticBuffalo Bills: Von Miller drawing inspiration from Bruce Smith“If you didn’t know him and you had never talked to him, you would think he was part of this new age of launch angle – hit the ball in the air, drive the ball in the air,” Hunter Mense, the double-A hitting coach told Lott. “The more you talk to him, it’s like that is not what he had in mind at all.“He just wanted to drive balls more, not necessarily hitting home runs or not necessarily getting the ball in the air. But he did make some changes. He lowered his hands. He worked on loading in his back hip a little bit better in this off-season.“Lowering his hands I think puts him into the zone a little bit early behind the ball, and probably below the ball sometimes, and because of that, the way he comes up through the ball in his path is a little bit more uphill than most guys. And so when he connects on something, and it’s on that path, he will hit balls really, really high and really, really far.”"
It is impressive to see Biggio stand out in a lineup that features many capable hitters but like many power hitters, there’s the tendency to strike out more but the young hitter also takes his walks when he can.
His performance on Saturday with a three-hit night (a double short of the cycle) earned him a spotlight in William Boor’s top prospect performers for MLB.com.
Next: Blue Jays look to the future with Orelvis Martinez
What will be interesting to see how he deals with the additional attention paid to him but if he continues along this tradectory, he’ll join a strong list of Blue Jays knocking at the door for an opportunity sooner rather than later.