If Jose Bautista was known for anything in the 2010 Major League season, it probably was for the 54 home runs he smashed around the park for the Toronto Blue Jays. Life particularly isn’t easy when you’re on the East Side of the
American League. It especially gets tough when your team ranks 4th in the overall table. However, when the spotlight has shinned bright on the ball club, it has always been credited to Bautista, increasingly so. The Dominican Republic player may
be on top of his game at the moment, but he’s involved himself with the National Collegiate Athlete Association (NCAA), which suggests he’s looking to other areas where he can contribute positively.
The top player is looking to help young players move to the country and its educational institutions with ease. The major contribution from the ace hitter will come in the form of a financial assistance program. The batter is looking
to help rising athletes from various regions move to the United States, more freely. The NCAA will be working with the player on the new development program when it takes effect soon.
Jose recently issued a statement concerning his mission. He said, "The general idea is going to be recruiting student athletes that are a good representation to my country. It's just like somebody helped me when I was trying to
sign as a free agent and couldn't get a deal done. I had somebody help me and it allowed me to go to the United States to pursue my college education and play baseball at the same time”
Bautista had almost dropped the idea to play baseball during his college years. The high school graduate spent his mornings at the baseball academy, back in the Dominican Republic when he took up college. The strong hitter tried
for the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks gave him a look but at the end, nothing great came out of the endeavour. Enrolled for the third semester, the power batter wasn’t getting any encouraging calls to take up baseball.
Jose recalls by saying, “I never received an offer that my family thought was good enough for me to drop out of college for.”
It all looked over for the player when his old coach, Oscar Perez, called him to offer a place in the Little League. Perez worked with the Latin Athletes Education Fund. For Bautista that was fate and that’s how he got to the United
States.
He described the scenario by saying, “I was basically going to call it quits. It really came down to about five days before I had to show up for the first class. It was very last minute.”
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