July 29, 2019

By Andrew Hendriks

Canadian Baseball Network

With an active roster that held 23 players when the team touched down in Kansas City late last night, the Toronto Blue Jays have called up both INF Bo Bichette and LHP Thomas Pannone ahead of their game against the Royals on Monday.

Bichette, 21, has spent the majority of 2019 at the triple-A level, slashing a healthy .275/.333/.473 with 16 doubles and eight home runs spread out across 244 plate appearances with the Buffalo Bisons. A second-round draft pick in 2016, the 6'0" product of Orlando, Fla., has made all but 35 of his 323 professional appearances at shortstop, and that's where he'll be when he makes his MLB debut on Monday night.

Having led all affiliated minor league position players in batting average (.362) in 2017, the right-handed hitting son of four-time All-Star Dante Bichette has posted an OPS of .894 since making his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Blue Jays as an 18-year-old, and joins Toronto after being ranked the eighth best prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline earlier in 2019.

Through six appearances with the Bisons this season, Pannone has pitched to an ERA of 1.65 with 32 strikeouts against only eight walks. Recalled to the majors for the fifth time this season, the 6'-0" southpaw has made 25 big league appearances in 2019, posting a WHIP of 1.511 across 43 2/3 innings of work.

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