TORONTO – Jose Bautista set the bar extremely high by hitting 54 home runs in 2010 then hitting an MLB-best 43 home runs the following season.
Bautista won’t replicate those numbers this year, and there’s a good chance no one else in baseball will, either. But he’s still one of the most productive hitters around, as he showed the Seattle Mariners Monday at Rogers Centre.
Bautista hit his 35th home run of the season Monday as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Mariners and Canadian left-hander James Paxton 14-4. He also picked up two singles, drew a walk, made a sliding catch and threw out Logan Morrison trying to stretch a single into a double.
“He’s been doing it for a number of years now. He’s definitely one of the best hitters in baseball. He’s also one of the best defenders in baseball,” Toronto manager John Gibbons said.
The numbers certainly back Gibbons up.
Counting Monday’s game, just three MLB position players had generated more wins above replacement than Bautista’s 6.3. Just six players have a higher slugging percentage than Bautista’s .533. Just three big league players have more home runs than Bautista’s 35. No qualified hitter has a higher on-base percentage than Bautista’s .407 mark.
Impressive numbers at a time that run scoring is in decline around baseball.
His offensive stats compare favourably to those of Mike Trout, who’s considered the best player in baseball and the frontrunner for American League MVP. While Trout adds more value on defence and on the bases, his batting line (.291/.382/.567 with 35 home runs) looks awfully similar to Bautista’s (.288/.407/.533 with 35 home runs).
To his credit, Trout has hit for more extra-base power this year with 39 doubles and nine triples. He’s the best there is. Jose Abreu, Victor Martinez, Andrew McCutchen and Giancarlo Stanton are also putting together monster offensive years, but Bautista is right there in that elite group.
“He can burn you deep. Opposing pitchers are always aware of that. If you make a mistake, he can kill you,” Gibbons said. “You really can’t say enough good things about him. We’ve said it 500 times this year. He’s pretty good.”
Part of the success stems from pitch selection — taking a bases-loaded walk instead of chasing a pitch, then swinging at offerings in the zone.
“My goal is to hit the ball as hard as I can, but I’ve gotten better in the last four or five years at being selective and knowing which pitches I want to go after,” Bautista said. “As a result of that, I’m walking more and getting on base more often. It’s part of my game now just because I know if I swing at better pitches, I’ll be more successful at hitting.”
Bautista’s home run was his 203rd with the Blue Jays, which ties him with Joe Carter for third place on the all-time franchise list. Vernon Wells (223) and Carlos Delgado (336) are the only players to hit more home runs for the Blue Jays.
“Even though we’re not the most historic franchise and we haven’t been around the longest, there are some great names on that list,” Bautista said. “It’s an honour for me for my name to be thrown in amongst that. It’s always nice to keep getting personal accolades and making your name within a franchise.”
Bautista had some help Monday, as Kevin Pillar and Anthony Gose also homered in the blowout win.
James Paxton’s night, on the other hand, went extremely poorly. In his first appearance at Rogers Centre, the British Columbia native allowed more runs (nine, eight earned) than he recorded outs (eight). Paxton walked six and allowed seven hits, giving up more than three earned runs for the first time in 16 career starts.
The 25-year-old has some ties to the Blue Jays, having been drafted by Toronto in the first round of the 2009 draft. He did not sign and was selected by Seattle the following season. So far that selection has paid off for Seattle, as he had a 1.91 ERA in 15 starts with the Mariners entering play Monday.
Now 83-73, the Mariners are trying to catch the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals in a tight race for the American League wild card spots, so this was a game they needed to win. They sabotaged their chances of success with poor run prevention, and didn’t play like a team headed for October.
“I’ve said many times that the best teams get there, the lesser ones don’t,” manager John Gibbons said before the game. “That’s no secret in this business.”
By now it’s clear that the Blue Jays won’t be one of the teams that make it. Unless the Mariners turn things around, they’ll be on the outside looking in too. But as the Blue Jays shift their attention to 2015, they know they can build their lineup around one of the top bats in the game.