José Bautista
Toronto Blue Jays — No. 23
Third baseman/Outfielder
Born: October 19, 1980 (1980-10-19) (age 29) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 4, 2004 for the Baltimore Orioles
Career statistics (through September 2, 2009)
Batting average	.238
Home runs	59
Runs batted in	211
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.

[edit] 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 over the course of one season (more specifically, his rookie season).

The Pirates, Bautista's original team, lost him to 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] 2009

Bautista started off the 2009 season on the bench, backing up 3rd Base for Scott Rolen, as well as Alex Rios and Adam Lind in the outfield and at first base. When Rios was claimed off waivers by the Chicago White Sox and Adam Lind returned to DH, Bautista got an increased role in the line up, becoming the usual 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. Fans in Toronto have come to a liking of Bautista, with the nickname "Utility Bomb", due to his late-season power stroke and cannon of an arm.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube