José Bautista

José Bautista
José Bautista
Toronto Blue Jays – No. 19
	Third baseman/Outfielder
	Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
	April 4, 2004, for the Baltimore Orioles
Career statistics ; (through May 23, 2010)
Batting average	.239
Home runs	73
Runs batted in	249
	Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
	Baltimore Orioles (2004); Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2004); Kansas City Royals (2004); Pittsburgh Pirates (2004-2008); Toronto Blue Jays (2008-present);

José Antonio Bautista (born October 19, 1980 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball infielder/outfielder and right-handed batter who plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is not related to pitcher José Bautista. Bautista has earned the nickname, "Bowser", because of the great power he is exhibiting in the 2010 season.

Major League career

During the 2004 season, Bautista played for the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kansas City Royals, and Pittsburgh Pirates. He was also technically on the New York Mets roster after being acquired from the Royals and dealt to the Pirates the same day.^[1] This made him the first and only player to be on five different Major League rosters in one season (more specifically, his rookie season).

Bautista was selected by the Orioles in the Rule 5 Draft, and he made his debut with Baltimore on April 4, 2004. He was claimed off waivers by Tampa Bay on June 3, then traded to Kansas City on June 28. He was then sent to the Mets on July 30, and without playing a game for New York, was traded back to Pittsburgh.

In 2006, his first full season with the Pirates, Bautista hit just .235 but hit 16 home runs and drove in 51 runs. The following season in 2007, he posted similar numbers in 142 games, finishing the season with a batting average of .254, 15 home runs and 63 RBI.

That same year, he became the starting third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He took over for National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez, who moved to second base.

2008

Bautista was to be the Pirates' starting third baseman and backup outfielder in 2008. From June 14 to June 24, Bautista hit five home runs in a span of 9 games against interleague opponents Baltimore, Chicago White Sox, Toronto, and the New York Yankees. However, Bautista struggled offensively for most of the year, after the 2008 trade deadline, Bautista lost his starting job to the newly-acquired Andy LaRoche. He was optioned to Triple-A (Indianapolis Indians) on August 13. After performing well in Triple-A, on August 21, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later (Robinzon Diaz).^[2]

2009

Bautista started the 2009 season on the bench, backing up third base for Scott Rolen and the outfield for Alex Rios and Adam Lind. When Rios was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox and Adam Lind was assigned the role of designated hitter, Bautista's playing time increased; he became the leadoff hitter after an injury to Marco Scutaro. During this time, his hitting improved. Bautista had a 4 game home run streak snapped on October 3, but the next day hit a solo home run to lead off an inning of Baltimore Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie. Bautista finished the 2009 season with 13 HR (10 of which came in the month of September), 40 RBI, a batting average of .235, and 79 hits in 113 games. He re-signed with the Blue Jays on a one-year $2.4 million US contract for the 2010 season.

2010

Before the 2010 season, Bautista changed his number from 23 to 19. Bautista began the 2010 campaign as the starting right fielder and leadoff hitter. He hit his first HR of the year against the Baltimore Orioles' Kevin Millwood on April 11. On May 17, Bautista was named AL Player of the Week after hitting .444 (8-for-18) with 20 total bases, 4 HR, 8 RBIs, 8 R, .565 OBP, and an MLB-best 1.111 SLG. As of May 30, Bautista led the Majors in Homers with 16.

As of May 31, 2010 Bautista already has 16 homers, his career high for a whole season in two months. Since this outstanding accomplishment, Bautista has become a real fan favorite in Toronto and the home town crowd has lovingly nicknamed him "The Hose Man".

References

^ Baseball America: Trade Central
^ Kovacevic, Dejan (2008-08-21). "Pirates trade Bautista to Blue Jays". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-08-21.

External links

Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)

[1] Baseball America: Trade Central

[2] Kovacevic, Dejan (2008-08-21). "Pirates trade Bautista to Blue Jays". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-08-21.

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