José Bautista Carrying the Blue Jays
Since their back-to-back World Series Championships in 1992 and 1993, the Toronto Blue Jays have produced some bona fide all stars but it has never translated into more trips to the postseason or more championships.
The Jays have seen the likes of Carlos Delgado, Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells and now Jose Bautista play for the organization. The problem is, the franchise has not produced consistently winning teams.
With the trading of Halladay this past offseason, Jays fans were left to wonder who would be the face of the franchise. So far at least, Bautista has provided some hope for the team’s future. The 29-year-old slugger currently leads the majors in home runs and is enjoying a breakout year.
Bautista has spent the last two seasons with the Blue Jays and has become the star Blue Jays fans need.
Bautista’s career began with some major team shuffling. He was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2004 draft only to be claimed off waivers by Tampa Bay shortly after. He was then traded to Kansas City just 25 days later. He was then sent to the New York Mets just one month after, then without playing a game for New York was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates where he finally stayed put for a few seasons.
Bautista played his first full season in 2006 for the Pirates where he hit for .235 and hit a respectable 16 home runs.
His next season turned out to be similar. He hit 15 home runs but he increased his batting average to .254 and hit 63 RBIs.
In 2008, Bautista struggled offensively and lost his starting job at third base. He was sent down to the minors for the second half of the season where he performed well. At the end of the season he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Finally it appears that Bautista has found a home. His career with the Jays started out in the 2009 season. He began his season on the bench, as the backup for Scott Rolen and the outfield for Alex Rios and Adam Lind.
Things turned quickly as Rios was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox and Lind was moved to the designated hitter spot which resulted in a lot more playing time for Bautista.
He took over the leadoff spot in the batting rotation and his hitting improved. He had a four game home run streak and finished the season with 13 HR (10 of which came in September), 40 RBIs, and had 79 hits for a batting average of .235 over 113 games. Bautista has never looked back. The Jays signed Bautista to a one year contract following the season.
This year Bautista has broken through and is rolling through the season finally enjoying true success. He began this season as the starting right fielder and the leadoff hitter.
Bautista has already been named the AL player of the week this season. On May 17th, he received the award after hitting .444 (8-for-18) with 20 total bases, 4 HR, 8 RBIs, 8 R, .565 OBP.
Bautista was recently snubbed out of the Home Run derby which was a surprise to many as the leader in baseball in dingers should automatically qualify to compete in the contest. Bautista was still selected for the All Star team, the first time he has been to the mid-summer classic.
The Blue Jays play in perhaps the toughest division in baseball which may be the reason why they have not made the playoffs in so long, and Bautista is a free agent at the end of the season. It may be a short ride for the slugger north of the boarder as he may be the most sought after free agent of 2010.
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