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The Blue Jays face a transition at shortstop as a new era begins in Toronto.
The American League champion Toronto Blue Jays suddenly find themselves facing a future without one of the two faces of their franchise, 27-year-old three-time All-Star Bo Bichette. The Blue Jays’ 2016 second-round draft pick became a free agent after the World Series, and on Friday reportedly decided to sign a $42 million per year deal with the New York Mets.
Now, the Blue Jays, who have committed to $337 million in new free agent contracts to improve their team, find themselves facing an uncertain future, especially with their middle infield situation. Bichette had been the Jays’ shortstop since 2019, playing 716 games there and never appearing at any other defensive position.
On Thursday, one day before it was publicly revealed that Bichette was saying goodbye to the organization that nurtured him and had been his only home in the Major Leagues, the Blue Jays made a move aimed at laying the foundation for the post-Bichette era, signing a 16-year-old shortstop, Gabriel Porras, as reported on the team’s official transaction ledger.
Porras Would Be One of Smallest Players
Porras, signed out of Venezuela, is notable for his size, or lack of it. Of course, at age 16, the shortstop has plenty of room to grow both physically and as a baseball player. But listed at just 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds by Baseball America, Porras would rank among the smallest players in MLB were he to make it there without growing further.
Likely future Hall of Fame second baseman Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros stands 5-foot-6, even smaller than Porras, proving that even little guys can excel at the game. Altuve is believed to be the shortest player in the big leagues as of 2026.
The Venezuelan teenager was one of 21 international free agents signed by the Blue Jays on Thursday, the opening day of the 11-month 2026 international signing period. Six of those 21, or 29 percent, were shortstops, which would seem to indicate that the Blue Jays have been anticipating a future without Bichette — a future that has now become the team’s reality.
Of course, given the new crop of international signings’ youthful ages, none can be reasonably expected to get to the Major Leagues before 2030.
Porras Said to Offer ‘Sneaky Value’
The amount of the signing bonus offered to Porras was not made public, but journalist Francys Romero of BeisbolFR estimated the sum at a modest $75,000, leading Baseball America to label the new shortstop a potential “sneaky value” acquisition.
“Venezuelan shortstop Gabriel Porras is just 5-foot-7, 160 pounds, but he could end up a sneaky value signing. He has a relatively clean swing from both sides of the plate and good bat control to make contact at a high clip with gap power,” the publication’s scouting report on Porras read. “It’s a good blend of game skills and athleticism with above-average speed and a middle infield profile, whether it ends up being at shortstop or second base.”
End of an Era in Toronto
Coming through the Blue Jays system together and both debuting in 2019, Bichette was always linked in Blue Jays lore with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. But in April, the Blue Jays guaranteed that Guerrero Jr. would serve as the face of the franchise for the next decade and a half, signing him to a 14-year, $500 million contract extension.
But the team offered no such extension to Bichette and is now enduring the consequences of that decision.
“For a decade, Bo Bichette represented the future in Toronto,” wrote MLB.com Blue Jays correspondent Keegan Matheson on Friday. “Now, so suddenly, he’s a memory.”
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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