Six years ago today, the Devil Rays sold Jose Bautista to the Royals, who became the utilityman's fourth organization in seven months. It was just the beginning of a turbulent summer for Bautista, who would return to the Pirates in a three-team deal in July of 2004. Back then, Bautista was intriguing enough for teams to want him, but not quite good enough for them to keep him. Today, he's leading the American League with 20 homers.
The Pirates made Bautista available in the 2003 Rule 5 draft and acquired him back the next July. In between, Bautista was the property of the Orioles, the Devil Rays, the Royals and, briefly, the Mets. He didn't play particularly often or particularly well for any of the four teams he suited up for in 2004. Bautista played third base and all three outfield positions but didn't flash the combination of patience and power that has turned him into a valuable big leaguer.
Bautista has led the Blue Jays to a league-leading 115 homers and he's fourth in the Junior Circuit with 47 walks. Some Rule 5 picks, like Dan Uggla, start contributing immediately, but Bautista's history shows that some picks take longer to develop. Who knows – maybe Kanekoa Texeira, a Rule 5 pick in his third organization of 2010, will be an All-Star caliber player within a few years.
J-BAU is just like J-WOW from jersey shore
both got passed around for years
JoBau eats babies for midnight snacks.
It was ridiculous how the Pirates let Joey Bats go, and then they had to give something up to get him back. And then he was let go because he wasn’t a part of Huntington’s “plan” and all they got was a back-up catcher who is not even in the organization anymore and now only Garrett Jones has at least half of the amount of home runs that Joey Bats has hit.
“Bautista has led the Blue Jays to a league-leading 115 homers”
LOL yeah might want to reword that
Why? The sentence makes perfect sense. The Blue Jays lead the MLB with 115 home runs.
I don’t blame Bucs GM Neal Huntington for dealing Jose Bautista. Joey Bats had the potential to hit for power, but hadn’t shown it until this year. Huntington did what a lot of GM would have done and cut their losses. Sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.
He’ll probably finish with 27 home runs and will be forgotten. He’s not that good. He’s a flash in the pan.
27 is still pretty good and I like the way he’s played. His BA isn’t high but he shows a lot of patience which is why his OBP is pretty high and he really hits for power. It’s hard to get a fastball by him but he’s also been practicing hitting breaking pitches and if he can do that, he can a very solid hitter. He can be pretty useful to a club looking for some versatility, as he can play 3B and any outfield position. He’s not great at 3B but he’s not bad either, probably slightly above average and his defense is good in the outfield and he’s got a cannon arm.
I think he ends up hitting 32 homeruns.
Let’s not get crazy here. 27 HR is not MVP caliber even in a post steroid era. 35-45 is MVP caliber.
Let’s not get crazy here. 27 HR is not MVP caliber even in a post steroid era. 35-45 is MVP caliber.