Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette get a lot of noise in regards to their position in the Toronto infield for years to come, but the final third of that three-headed monster shouldn’t get lost in the shuffles. Cavan Biggo slashed .234/.364/.429 in 100 games last season, hitting 16 home runs and stealing 14 bases in the process. Sure, the batting average is a problem, but he held his own in the majors and he showed in Double-A that he can sustain a batting average around .250, which would be welcomed with open arms by fantasy owners here in 2020. (Spoiler alert: He won’t get there this year, however.) Biggio struck out a lot last year, but his 16.5 percent walk rate isn’t an anomaly, because when you look had his minor league numbers, he was consistently in the mid-teens.

Biggio is an intriguing fantasy asset, and he gets half of the attention that Guerrero and Bichette get. He is allergic to hitting baseballs on the ground and he hardly makes soft contact. He made soft contact just 12.4 percent of the time last year and he does a great job of making solid contact when he is lofting the baseball.

Biggio has a rather interesting profile though, in regards to his walk, strikeout and swing rate. He has a great awareness of the zone, going outside just 15.8 percent of the time, per his O-Swing rate at Fangraphs. Want to know a fun fact? That would have been the lowest mark in baseball by THREE percentage points if he had enough at-bats to qualify. That explains his high walk rate. However, it’s odd for a guy to go out of the zone so little, to have a strikeout rate near 30 percent. I think this can be explained by two things. One, his whiff rates on non-fastballs is rather high. See for yourself, courtesy of Baseball Savant.

Furthermore, his patience is almost a blessing and a curse. Biggio’s 35.9 percent swing rate would have been the third-lowest mark in all of baseball if he had enough at-bats to qualify. Honestly, Biggio’s batted ball profile lines up pretty close to Houston’s Alex Bregman and not far off from Mike Trout ’s, but Biggio just has more whiffs in his game than the other two.

 

O-Swing%

Z-Swing%

Swing%

Contact%       

SwStr%

Biggio

15.8%

63.3%

35.9%

75.9%

8.7%

Bregman

18.8%

58.8%

35.1%

87.0%

4.6%

Trout

20.5%

61.2%

36.8%

82.3%

6.5%

Courtesy of Fangraphs

Furthermore, when you look at his spray chart, you will see there’s a ton of color in right field, and the closer you get to left field, colored dots become non-existent. Take a look for yourself:

His batting average dropped about 30 points when the shift was deployed, so expect teams to shift against him at a high rate, However, imagine the “cheap” hits he could get if he could hit some ground balls the other way on hit-and-runs after Bichette leads off the game with a single or walk…. Batting average booster right there! Fingers crossed.

Speaking of Bichette running, Biggio can run a bit himself. He was a perfect 14-for-14 on the base paths last year, and Toronto will let him run again in 2020. His 14 attempts in 100 games last year comes out to an average of one stolen base attempt per every 7.1 games. That puts him at about 20 attempts per the year, and his mark last year was actually better than the likes of Austin Meadows , Mookie Betts , Rafael Devers and Trout. If you ask me, he will attempt more than 20 stolen bases this year, but that gives us a floor. Will he go 20-for-20? No, but 15-for-20 is easily achievable. Consider that his floor this year.

Biggio is expected to serve as the team’s No. 2 hitter, coming in behind Bichette and ahead of Guerrero, so he could score plenty of runs this season, especially if Guerrero has a big year like many are expecting. Batting average is a bit of a concern for Biggio, but at his current draft price (in the 130s per NFBC data at time of writing), I love the power speed combo you can get from Biggio. Furthermore, if you play in a league that takes on-base percentage as a category, or perhaps as the preferred option over batting average, Biggio is going to move up a few spots in the overall rankings, thanks to that lofty walk rate.

For me, I love Biggio as a starting second baseman, and he has 20/20 upside this season. I think 15/15 is his floor, but the chance for a 20/20 season with a .365+ OBP is certainly on the table. You will want some exposure to Biggio here in 2020. You won’t regret it.

Statistical Credits:
fangraphs.com
baseballsavant.mlb.com