Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The curious case of Jose Bautista: How did he do it?



If you walked into a room full of baseball fans before the 2010 season and told them that Jose Bautista would lead the Majors in home runs, half would have laughed at you and the other half wouldn’t have known who Jose Bautista was. However, after his 2010 season, Bautista certainly made a name for himself after years of mediocrity.
Drafted in the 20th round of the 2000 MLB Draft, Jose Bautista was not on many teams’ radars. Four years after he was drafted by the Pittsburgh pirates, he played his first game in the Majors in a Baltimore uniform. Unfortunately, Bautista didn’t impress and made stops in Kansas City, Tampa Bay, and Pittsburgh in that same season. After 2004, Bautista spent four seasons with his original team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was then shipped to Toronto in August of 2008 for Robinson Diaz. In just six seasons in the league, Bautista suffered at the plate as he racked up a miniscule 59 home runs in 1754 career at-bats. He also failed to hit above an average of at least .260 in any of those years. Jose looked was developing into a journeyman in the early stages of his career.
Oddly enough, Bautista completely turned it around in 2010. He hit league-leading 54 homers, drove in an impressive 124 runs, and scored a total of 109 runs. His remarkable efforts led to his first All-Star selection as well as a fourth place finish in the American League MVP voting.
That’s right. The same guy who could hardly find a home led all of Major League Baseball in home runs and did it in a dominating fashion. The next closest player to Bautista in homers was Albert Pujols who finished with 42.
Just to put Bautista’s 2010 home run total in perspective, here are some interesting facts:
-          Prior to this season, Bautista hit 59 homers in 575 career games. In 2010, he hit 54 homers in 161 games.
-          In his first six seasons, Bautista hit home runs in 3.4% of his at-bats. In 2010, he hit home runs in 9.5% of his at-bats.
-          Bautista’s previous career high in home runs was 16. The single season increase is now the largest in Major League history.
-          Bautista hit 12 more home runs than the next closest player. That is the highest differential between the two top home run hitters since 1965. (Willie Mays had 13 more than Willie McCovey)
-          Bautista hit more home runs in the second half of the season (30) than Carlos Pena hit all season (28). Pena led the American League in home runs in 2009.
And now the mystery has arisen…how did he do it? Some critics believe Bautista may have used performance-enhancing drugs along the way to his huge accomplishment. With all the allegations and discoveries of some of baseball’s best (particularly guys like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Alex Rodriguez) abusing steroids, Bautista cannot help but find himself under the interrogation light. For those who cannot grasp the reality of his performance, it seems like a logical reason for the drastic increase in his numbers from one year to the next. Until he proves otherwise, Bautista will forever be linked to the possibility of using performance enhancers. It’s just the unfortunate reality of the game. (If you type in Jose Bautista into Google, the entry “Jose Bautista steroids" will pop up.)
However, I personally do not believe he used any type of performance enhancer. I would hope players in the Majors would not be desperate enough to lose their credibility for some pills.
I believe this is a case of a guy trying to save his career. Bautista, who had often struggled at the plate throughout his whole career, knew there was a problem and worked on his swing to fix it. If you don’t buy into that, just take a look at some tape from his swing in Toronto and compare it to his swing in Pittsburgh. His mechanics are remarkably better.
For one, his approach is much better. He moved his body closer to the plate making it tougher on pitchers to hit their spots. He has also positioned his hands much higher than they previously were. This allows Bautista to load up quicker and gives his swing a lot more power.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, he has developed a tremendous leg kick. Prior to the season, Bautista barely lifted his leg, making it a lot tougher to drive the ball. After the adjustment, he carries his leg up significantly higher, making his power-swing much more effective.
Lastly, he is getting a lot more extension in his swing. Before the change, Bautista often failed to fully extend his arms. This makes it more difficult for the hitter to drive through the ball and reach pitches slightly out of the zone. Now with his arms being fully extended, Bautista has found it easier to send pitches over the fence.



In Bautista’s further defense, seasons like this have occurred before:
1884: Ned Williamson hits 27 HR (Career average per season: 9 HR)
1922: Tillie Walker hits 37 HR (Career average per season: 13 HR)
1937: Wally Moses hits 25 HR (Career average per season: 7 HR)
1970: Bert Campaneris hits 22 HR (Career average per season: 5 HR)
1970: Tommy Harper hits 31 HR (Career average per season: 13 HR)
1971: Willie Montanez hits 30 HR (Career average per season: 14 HR)
1973: Davey Johnson hits 43 HR (Career average per season: 15 HR)
1996: Brady Anderson hits 50 HR (Career average per season: 19 HR)
1999: Jay Bell hits 38 HR (Career average per season: 15 HR)
2001: Luis Gonzalez hits 57 HR (Career average per season: 22 HR)
2001: Rich Aurilla hits 37 HR (Career average per season: 18 HR)

Jose Bautista has finally found his swing. Although many may speculate about possible steroid use, Bautista can silence his critics by continuing to produce great numbers. I do not predict he will reach the 54 homer total of last season, but he will put up very solid figures. Expect Bautista to finish with anywhere from 25-30 home runs with upwards of 80 runs batted in.

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