The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the more surprising teams of 2015. Coming into the season, they had plenty of talent, but they were not expected to realistically contend for the American League East division. FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus each projected them to slide into the playoffs via one of the Wild Card spots, and most of ESPN.com’s experts predicted that they would not even make the postseason.
However, the front office’s tremendous work leading up to the July 31 trade deadline gave them a legitimate shot to not only make the playoffs, but win the East and contend for a World Series ring. They added shortstop Troy Tulowitzki a few days before the deadline, and starting pitcher David Price and outfielder Ben Revere in a span of a few hours on the 31st.
But while their deadline additions have played pivotal roles and garnered most of the attention down the stretch, Jose Bautista has thrived all season long under the radar.
Bautista has manned the third spot in the order all season long, and he has performed at a high level. His .248 batting average is low, but he has made up for it in power and patience and his stats stack up favorably to other stars in the Junior Circuit.
He currently ranks in the top ten in the American League in most of the traditional offensive stats like home runs, RBI, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. The sabermetrics like Bautista even more, as the 34-year-old right fielder is sixth in the AL in adjusted OPS+, ninth in runs created, fifth in adjusted batted runs and fifth in adjusted batted wins.
Bautista is creating runs for his team at an impressive clip, and he is also providing ample protection in the lineup for Josh Donaldson, who is in line to win his first Most Valuable Player award due to his monster season north of the border.
And while the lone dull spot on Bautista’s 2015 season is his batting average, that number probably should be higher. He has hit the ball harder than anyone in Major League Baseball except for Yoenis Cespedes – according to exit velocity data collected by Baseball Savant – and his ground ball percentage is his lowest number since 2012.
Yet even though his batting average is less than ideal, he has found a way to get on base a lot anyway. He has exhibited outstanding patience at the plate – he is swinging at pitches outside the strike zone at the lowest rate since 2009 – which is a big reason why he finds himself in the top ten in on-base percentage despite being considerably lower than that on the batting average leaderboard.
Really delve into Bautista’s stats, and he definitely deserves to be mentioned as one of baseball’s elite players. Ever since his massive breakout in 2010 – when he smashed 54 homers and finished fourth in the MVP voting – the Dominican native has been an All-Star every year, finished in the top six in the MVP voting three times and won three Silver Slugger awards.
So as the Blue Jays trudge toward playing October baseball – FanGraphs gives them a 99.8 percent chance of making the playoffs in its latest projections – the media will be giving its attention to several different people.
Alex Anthopoulos will get a ton of credit for being ultra-active at the deadline. Price will be heralded for his ace-caliber production down the stretch. Donaldson will be in the thick of the MVP race thanks to his terrific statline. Heck, Tulowitzki will probably even get a lot of publicity for his contributions to the club since his arrival in late July.
Yours truly is not saying that those fellows don’t deserve credit – they have all been terrific. But don’t forget Bautista, who is quietly on pace for a 38-homer, 111 RBI campaign. He is once again producing like few others in the league, and he will be an integral part of the Jays’ success as they chase their first World Series title since 1993.