Jose Bautista Finally Hitting; Gets Standing Ovation in Toronto Return

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It wasn’t until his seventh MLB season that Jose Bautista finally became Jose Bautista, but the impression he made over his nine years in Toronto will not be forgotten. On July 3rd, Bautista made his return to the Rogers Centre as a member of the Mets and the city of Toronto let him know. Before his first at-bat, the 24,000-plus fans in attendance rose to their feet and gave Bautista a standing ovation.

They also orchestrated a nice Jose Bautista tribute video on their giant screen in center field.

In his five plate appearances, Bautista reached base four times — three walks and a single — and brought his Mets’ batting average up to .256. Just a few months ago, he was in the Braves’ minor league system, believed to be washed up. Then upon getting called up to the Braves’ big club, he didn’t do much (5-for-35) and was promptly released. Upon getting signed by the Mets — his second stint in the organization — things didn’t immediately get better for Joey Bats, though. Over the course of his first 22 games with New York, he had ZERO home runs, three RBIs, and a .697 OPS in 44 at-bats. He was hitting just .205 and was relegated to a pinch-hit, spot-start type of role. Then, after getting a few hits and RBIs in the team’s next three games, he won a starting job. Although the team is awful, Joey Bats has gotten back to his old self. In his last 15 games, he’s hitting .310 with his first three homers, 10 RBIs, 15 walks, and an OPS of 1.134.

His strange 2018 season can be broken down into three parts — his Braves’ stint, his early Mets’ days, and finally, his return to normalcy with New York.

Jose Bautista 2018 Breakdown:

  • May 5 thru May 18: .143 BA, 2 HR, .593 OPS — Braves
  • May 22 thru June 16: .205, 0 HR, .697 OPS — Mets
  • June 17 thru July 3: .310 BA, 3 HR, 1.134 OPS — Mets

It remains to be seen if he’ll keep it up but Mets’ fans don’t have much to cheer for these days. This mini-resurgence by Joey Bats is something, not a lot, but something to be happy about.

As a member of the Blue Jays, Bautista hit 288 home runs in 1,235 games. He also hit six home runs for the Jays in postseason play and was a six-time All-Star. In 2010 and 2011, he was the MLB’s home run king.

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Career stats for Jose Bautista can be found here.

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CATEGORY: MLB