The Blue Jays’ Cavan Biggio insists hard work will restore his confidence in the field

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This article was published 27/04/2021 (1659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Charlie Montoyo trusts Cavan Biggio. Cavan Biggio says he trusts Cavan Biggio.

But, despite tireless groundball reps and backfield tutoring, the erstwhile Blue Jays second baseman and outfielder is having a heck of a time adjusting to third base, with scrabbly offence providing scarce yang for the scratchy defensive ying.

Entering Tuesday night’s series opener in Dunedin against the Nationals, Max Scherzer on the mound, Biggio was dragging a slash line of .183/.310/.333 whilst hung with five errors, most of them throwing miscues to first.

It takes mental fortitude to continue believing oneself, even in so mercurial a game as baseball, where trends can abruptly zigzag. Montoyo continues to believe in Biggio, slotting the 26-year-old in the leadoff spot Tuesday — pending the any-day-now activation of George Springer and in lieu of Marcus Semien — but, defensively, Biggio was back in right field.

“Obviously, you never want doubt to come into your mind, in any part of this game, whether it’s hitting or fielding or throwing,” Biggio said during a late afternoon Zoom conclave with reporters. “I think that all stems from confidence. Throughout my whole career I’ve learned to gain confidence through my work and through my preparation. That’s what I’m going to continue to do, continue to work hard at third base, make every single play, in BP, in (taking) groundballs, and use that confidence to make it translate into the game.”

Biggio, known for a discerning eye at the plate — if anything, he has been accused of being too passive and avowed at spring training to ratchet up the aggressive quotient — had struck out 23 times in 71 plate appearances this season, eight times without moving the bat off his shoulder. To some extent that can be explained by the mash-up of his fingers, struck thrice by balls deflecting against or hammering against his right hand phalanges, nagging ailments that punted him out of the lineup for a few games and which still haven’t completely healed.

“Nothing’s ever really 100 per cent in this game. Especially when you’re playing through something and you never really allow it to get back to 100 per cent. But I know that I can play on it. It’s been a lot better.”

He may have had difficulty even holding a bat and swinging with conviction. That does not, however, account for the un-Biggio-like chasing on bad pitches. As per Baseball Savant, his chase percentage in 2021 has been 25.7, nearly double his career average. Still a small sample size and all but of some telescopic concern, with Biggio claiming he’s not being pitched much differently.

“The biggest thing with me offensively this year is just trying to get it going, and I’ve been dealing with my hand,” Biggio said, getting back in rhythm after missing games. Against Tampa on the weekend, he tried staying short to the ball. “A little more precise. I was missing barrels on pitches that I didn’t think that I should have been. Just trying to eliminate as many things in my swing and be as simple as possible right now.”

Biggio has a high baseball IQ. He’ll probably figure this out, adjust and readjust. He had three hits and a sacrifice fly in Toronto’s 9-5 thrashing of Washington on Tuesday, in what was a glorious night for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had three homers, including a grand slam, and seven RBIs.

On the defensive side, though, it’s a big ask, converting someone who has played most of his career at second; just two dozen games now at third. The Jays have always prioritized versatility — too much so, arguably — with this move designed to accommodate shifting Guerrero across the diamond to first, where he has settled in nicely and athletically, errorless and surprisingly agile in pulling off the stretching splits.

Fixing one problem has opened up a gaping liability on the left side of the infield, and Biggio’s woes are rendered more stark by Bo Bichette’s field and throwing travails at short — six errors and counting. The Jays could live with this adapting and customizing during the team’s rebuild era. But this year their ambitions are much grander.

Biggio can draw upon minor-league multi-purposing experience for the bouncy-ball of acclimatizing to the hot corner. But the perspective from third is entirely divergent.

“The biggest thing is the angle,” he said. “When I’ve been on the right side of the infield pretty much my whole career, it takes a little bit of getting used to the left side of second base. Second base, you have a little more time to read the hops and play it through. Third base is more reactionary. I’m more focusing on my footwork and doing the best I can to field every single ball the right way. The biggest thing is just catching it and putting your feet in a good position to make a good throw.”

It’s a different animal, requiring both a positional and existential rethink. At second base, Biggio would set up more upright, trying to cover as much ground as possible. “At third base, I’m really low, I try to keep my eyes as low as possible, so I can read the hops the cleanest and the best. At every single position that I’ve played, I always try to find something that works for me, that gets me ready to play the position. For third base, it’s me staying as low as possible before the pitch and fielding a ground ball.”

Before Tuesday’s game, Biggio had yet another discussion about the ins and outs of the recast job with third base coach Luis Rivera. “I told him honestly I feel really comfortable with every single play there. But I have noticed on balls that I’ve had to charge, especially to my right-hand side, where you’ve got to get it and get rid of it pretty quick, I’ve been trying to put a little bit more on the ball than I should.”

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Too much effort, perhaps overcompensating, causing too much run on the ball thrown to first or second. A not overly-complicated fix, he insisted. “Just continue to trust my arm, trust my accuracy, and not try to force a work or try to put a little more on in when I really don’t have to. It’s all about trusting my work, trusting the process.”

Meanwhile, in Springer the team trusts also, giving their free-agent superstar acquisition all the time necessary to recover from the double-whammy of a spring training oblique strain followed by right quad strain. Many had expected Springer to make his Jays debut Tuesday but he was scratched, as yet not completely comfortable after playing games at the team’s alternate site.

If fans avidly await Springer’s activation from the injured list, no less do his teammates.

Biggio: “We’re pretty eager to get him back out there but we all understand that it’s a very long season. We’d rather him be 100 per cent now versus him ending up getting hurt and missing more time.”

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno