So much for Jose Bautista being a one year wonder. He’s following up his 54 home run campaign last year with an MVP run away type of season this year. Through two months, he leads the league in home runs (20), runs (45), OBP (.505) and slugging (.786). His 20 home runs in 47 games puts him on pace for 60 on the season so it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep it up.
Just to have some fun with splits, Bautista has a 1.310 OPS against right handed pitching so the whole platoon split thing hasn’t had an effect on him. At home, he’s hitting .407 with a 1.427 OPS. When he leads off the inning, he has a .556 OBP and a .429 batting average. After a 2-0 count he has a .761 OBP and when he makes contact with the first pitch of an at bat, he has a 1.462 OPS.
Oddly, with runners in scoring positions, he’s hitting just .250 although he’s gotten his share of walks. With nobody out in the inning, he has a 1.749 OPS. And the first time he faces a starter in the game, he has a 1.446 OPS.
The other good news is the Jays are in the mix. Even if they fall out of it though, we have something to pay attention too.
