Bautista by Fire

Friends,

His name is Jose Bautista...and I don't believe we have seen such a hitter in Major League Baseball since (I hate to say it) Barry Bonds. Bautista is a big time hitter than makes pitchers tremble. He has a major league leading 18 home runs this year...to go with the 54 home runs he hit in 2010. But, he doesn't just hit home runs...he has a major league leading .370 avg to go with the home runs, so he is hitting singles and doubles as well. The significant respect from pitchers also shows in that he usually walks multiple times every game. It also doesn't hurt that I have had him on my fantasy team last year as well as this year. :-)

What makes Bautista's story even more amazing is that he is not some second year player blowing up the statistics...he is a jouneryman who has played for five teams. His career home run totals were 74 in six pro seasons until last year. What makes all of this hard to understand is that it is the post steroids era, so it would be hard to think that he could have some major advantage over other big league hitters. He only hit 13 home runs in 2009, but most of those came in the final six weeks of that season. So...what brand of spinach did he start eating in August of 2009? Who knows. He did make a change in his batting stance, and he says that this made a significant difference for him. But, to allow for such an increase in power? Nevertheless, whatever he has been doing...it is working for him. And, for his and the Blue Jays' sake (not to mention my fbb team :-), here is to hoping he keeps hitting the cover off of the ball and scaring pitchers silly.

Blessings,
Don