Jose Bautista is off to an incredible start

[JDubs]

Yeah this is definitely true. You don't become Babe Ruth just by taking some steroids, especially when you were more or less replacement level beforehand.

The whole situation is frustrating. When's the last time the O's had a great player just fall in their lap like that? Certainly AA had done some good things for the Jays organization, but the turnaround has been just as much luck as it has been his skill. The Vernon Wells miracle trade was more the result of Reagin's idiocy than AA's savvy. Oh well, at least Snider and Drabek are struggling.

Sorry, had to whine a bit.

The last time? Well, Jose Bautista circa 2004.

[JDubs]

He is the best hitter in the game. Led the league in HR last year by fifteen and leading the league in OPS this year.

Only thing I can see is an easy come easy go kind of deal, where one day a couple years from now he wakes up and the magic is gone.

So, a Brady Anderson special? I believe that Brady did it clean. The stars aligned for him for one season, then scattered again. That was fun to watch. Well the first part anyways.

[JDubs]

It's easy to kick Pujols when he's down but Bautista doesn't hold a candle to him... yet.

I tend to give Bautista just a little more credit than this at this point, but agree with you overall. I think he has earned enough credit to be put in the current "top hitters" category, but still has a little ways to go before I anoint him the BEST hitter. And Bautista would have to do this for FIVE seasons before I even mumbled his name in the same sentence as Pujols in a career context.

[Slappy]

It's about time to start "Barry Bonds"-ing the guy. If there are guys on base, walk him. Outside of Lind, the rest of the Jays lineup is not so hot. Kudos to AA for that extension. As for PEDs, who knows, but Bautista did not suddenly hulk up like Bonds or McGwire. He's not really even that big of a dude.

[JDubs]

It may help in recovering from injuries faster. That's about it. The link I posted earlier debunks a lot of myths about it.

This is interesting. Now I am trying to figure out whether HGH actually makes you stronger. I always assumed that HGH made you stronger and that the argument was that it doesn't improve hand-eye coordination. (The obvious counterargument would be that the increase in strength turns flyballs into HRs.) I think I am confusing HGH and steroids in some respects.

I went to HGH.org (click for source) for some answers about whether you actually get stronger by using HGH. It appears to be a HGH promotion site, so take it with a grain of salt; however, it claims that HGH can make you stronger and provides the science behind its claim:

Does HGH Make You Stronger

People who are stronger can function well effectively at work and in their personal life. This is why people are constantly seeking supplements which can make them strong to handle the stresses of everyday life. People are also looking for strength-providing supplements which can also boost their immune system to fight infections.

Such is a substance known as HGH. Also known as human growth hormone, it is secreted by the pituitary during the early stages of life. This hormone is responsible for the growth and development of our body tissues. Through growth hormone, old cells are replaced by new cells and this makes us feel renewed and strong.

But does HGH really make you stronger?

Being stronger with HGH

The real function of the growth hormone is to increase the body's height and muscle mass. It helps in retaining calcium, maintaining healthy bones, reducing fat, controlling sugar and insulin levels, maintaining immunity, and other effects especially during the growing years of the body. And all these makes us stronger!

Growth hormone binds with the receptors of muscle cells and creates a cascade of events that lead to growth and repair of muscle cells, bones and connective tissue. The muscles provide the bulk of the body. The bone provides the framework of the body. Once you have increased muscles and stronger, bigger bones, you are stronger. This is how HGH can make you stronger!

Another way by which HGH makes you stronger is by stimulating the release of insulin like growth factor or IGF-1 in the liver. Once this is released, IGF-1 burns glucose directly from the food that we eat and converts them into energy for the growth and development of our cells and tissues. Thus there is no glucose left to store as belly fat! IGF-1 also stimulates fat in the subcutaneous tissue to be burned. All these processes of burning glucose and fat make the body a powerhouse for all its activities. You become stronger and more powerful as a result!

HGH stimulates protein anabolism, triglyceride breakdown and serves to maintain the blood glucose and insulin levels. These processes provide us with a renewed type of energy and we become stronger!

Either way, IMHO, I think that the improved recovery time between workouts and overall feeling of improved wellness--two less disputed benefits of the substance--could be enough to create an unfair advantage and improved power numbers. Not Bautista-like improvements, but very significant increments nonetheless. Heck, this site has me wanting to go out and get some HGH. My old man intramural indoor soccer league numbers have been in decline for months!

Either way, while cheating accusations are very serious, I think weams is doing it tongue-in-cheek and Bautista is a public figure. No big deal. I am actually very entertained by Bautista's surgence (can't call it a resurgence, right?). I would be really excited about it if he didn't hit most of those HRs against our O's.

[Spy Fox]

Watching Bautista hit, it's no wonder he is playing so well. I don't want to get into any PED debate because I don't know anything about them. I understand why people are suspicious but I see no reason not to assume innocence-- the man is just an amazing hitter right now, regardless of anything like that.

His timing, hand-eye coordination, and swing balance are incredible. He takes some of the most aggressive swings I have seen and still makes contact with the best part of the bat, which is why he hits so many line drives. Most batters swing and miss when they take as powerful a swing as he takes--it's that very special mechanics that I think is making him so great right now. Most of his home runs aren't the high arched type of fly ball, they are ropes.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/sort/OPS/order/true

Not only does he lead MLB in many categories but his power numbers lead the league by incredible margins. Leads in SLG by 25% over the #2 slugger, leads in OPS by 23% over the #2 hitter. In some of the sabermetric offensive stats, he leads by as much as 42% over the #2 in ISO, and 64% (!!) over the #2 in RC/27.

Those are truly dominant numbers. He won't be on this kind of a roll for the whole season, but I'm convinced he's here to stay. If I'm a major league pitcher right now, he is my #1 most feared batter for sure.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Yeah this is definitely true. You don't become Babe Ruth just by taking some steroids, especially when you were more or less replacement level beforehand.

The whole situation is frustrating. When's the last time the O's had a great player just fall in their lap like that? Certainly AA had done some good things for the Jays organization, but the turnaround has been just as much luck as it has been his skill. The Vernon Wells miracle trade was more the result of Reagin's idiocy than AA's savvy. Oh well, at least Snider and Drabek are struggling.

Sorry, had to whine a bit.

Not on the same level, obviously, but Guthrie was a waiver claim.

[isestrex]

I heard one expert say "this is Barry Bonds all over again" and to a certain degree, he's right.

No he wasn't saying anything about PED's. He was saying that because of huge power numbers, pitchers started to pitch to Bonds differently. The power came first, then the walks, high OBP and high AVG came after because pitchers would pitch around him and Bonds was patient enough to wait and only hit the few good pitches he saw.

The same thing is starting to happen with Bautista.

[Scrat1]

Two more today. On pace for 65. That 54 from last year, which seemed absolutely insane, is now looking easily attainable, if not pedestrian.

His 2011 slugging is higher than his career OPS.

[byrdz]

Two more today. On pace for 65. That 54 from last year, which seemed absolutely insane, is now looking easily attainable, if not pedestrian.

His 2011 slugging is higher than his career OPS.

Nutty stuff man

[Scrat1]

And another one flies out of the park.

[Sports Guy]

His WAR is already over 4!!!!!!

[weams]

Even if he is taking something, that hasn't made him THIS good all by itself.

You are so right. Bonds was fantastic without the juice. McGwire was a natural power hitter.

[weams]

I don't think that your intramural soccer league allows blood testing for HGH or ay of it's designer derivatives. I say go for it.

[waroriole]

His WAR is already over 4!!!!!!

That's incredible. He really is turning into a monster. He's making that 5/65 deal that so many of us laughed at look like a bargain.