Jose Bautista is off to an incredible start

[SammyBirdland]

Rafael Palmeiro 4

Jason Giambi 3

Jeff Bagwell 3

Greg Vaughn 3

Andres Galarraga 3

Jay Buhner 3

Mike Schmidt 3

Frank Howard 3

David Ortiz 2

Jim Edmonds 2

Willie Stargell 2

Wow, eight out of eleven of those guys are established and/or suspected steroids/PED users.

[Scrat1]

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

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.

[Moose Milligan]

This whole thing makes me wonder how good a replacement level player can be by simply making the right adjustments in their stance/swing/approach. Granted he's not the first replacement level player to try to tinker with his swing but he made the right correction. How many try different things and fail? How many of them could do what Bautista is doing if they'd only stumbled upon the right correction?

Keep in mind that a replacement level player still has ridiculous hand-eye coordination. Even someone like Bautista pre 2010 is still in the 99th percentile of baseball players in the world.

Another thing to ponder...how does he currently rank amongst the best hitters in the game? He's having a Pujols like year.

[ledzepp8]

A few notes, not that many guys have gone on to hit more than 40 homers twice or more after they never did it before 30.

Rafael Palmeiro 4

Jason Giambi 3

Jeff Bagwell 3

Greg Vaughn 3

Andres Galarraga 3

Jay Buhner 3

Mike Schmidt 3

Frank Howard 3

David Ortiz 2

Jim Edmonds 2

Willie Stargell 2

Only 11 ever. Bautista could make it 12.

Also recognize that Bautista didn't hit .368 last year either. His BABIP is about 100 points higher than last year. And his HR/RB rate is up 10%. I'm inclined to say his numbers will dip pretty hard. 32% HR/FB rates for the year seems really impossible. Plus he's actually hitting less fly balls than last year. Pretty incredible, but more than likely he won't OPS 1.388 all year.

Good info. Now where's the list of guys that have hit more than 40 homers (or 50 if he keeps up the pace) twice or more after they never hit more than 16 before they were 29.

[blid]

Another thing to ponder...how does he currently rank amongst the best hitters in the game? He's having a Pujols like year.

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.

[flashjordnk]

Good info. Now where's the list of guys that have hit more than 40 homers (or 50 if he keeps up the pace) twice or more after they never hit more than 16 before they were 29.

Ooh this one's easy I'll post the high for each hitter before he turned 29.

Rafael Palmeiro 37

Jason Giambi 33

Jeff Bagwell 39

Greg Vaughn 30

Andres Galarraga 29

Jay Buhner 27

Mike Schmidt 38

Frank Howard 31

David Ortiz 31

Jim Edmonds 33

Willie Stargell 33

Ummm so none. Actually that list was for under 29 not under 30. A few of those guys hit their first 40+ in years they turned 30.

But what's startling about this is not only the steroids reference but the fact that all these guys were much more clearly power hitters all along. And the fact other than the 27, if Bautista does it this year, he's the super super low.

[isestrex]

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.

He's the best hitter in the game through a couple months. That's all.

Last year even though he hit 50 homers he still hit .260 and struck out 116 times. Obviously he's on pace to do much better this year, but let's not pronounce him the best hitter in the game until he does it for a full season... and I mean he does EVERYTHING for a full season.

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

[commish]

This whole thing makes me wonder how good a replacement level player can be by simply making the right adjustments in their stance/swing/approach. Granted he's not the first replacement level player to try to tinker with his swing but he made the right correction. How many try different things and fail? How many of them could do what Bautista is doing if they'd only stumbled upon the right correction?

Keep in mind that a replacement level player still has ridiculous hand-eye coordination. Even someone like Bautista pre 2010 is still in the 99th percentile of baseball players in the world.

Another thing to ponder...how does he currently rank amongst the best hitters in the game? He's having a Pujols like year.

It seems like there's really no precedent for the leap that Bautista has made. I tend to think that this he is just an extreme anomaly and his scenario doesn't apply to the countless replacement level players that never have the light bulb come on, so to speak.

I wonder if he's more comparable to top talents like Corey Patterson that never quite put it all together (though obviously Bautista did). Granted Patterson was the 3rd overall pick and Bautista was a 20th round pick, but he was overslot and paid like a 2nd rounder. It would be interesting to look at all those 1st round players that reached the majors but never exceeded replacement level or did so late in their careers, to see just how rare it is for those players to improve after years of stagnating.

[Remember The Alomar]

I suppose he could just not question it at all and blindly believe that a career journey man all of a sudden turned into Barry Bonds at age 29.

By making crap up? If you're going to accuse him of using PED's, at least try to make sense. HGH doesn't make you good at baseball.

I don't know about you, but in my world "questioning" isn't posting a link to an HGH info page. "Questioning" would be having a discussion trying to figure out how he's doing what he's doing--not repeatedly making outlandish claims with no evidence to support them.

[ledzepp8]

By making crap up? If you're going to accuse him of using PED's, at least try to make sense. HGH doesn't make you good at baseball.

I don't know about you, but in my world "questioning" isn't posting a link to an HGH info page. "Questioning" would be having a discussion trying to figure out how he's doing what he's doing--not repeatedly making outlandish claims with no evidence to support them.

What does HGH do? Seriousl, for those of us not in the know.

[blid]

He's the best hitter in the game through a couple months. That's all.

Last year even though he hit 50 homers he still hit .260 and struck out 116 times. Obviously he's on pace to do much better this year, but let's not pronounce him the best hitter in the game until he does it for a full season... and I mean he does EVERYTHING for a full season.

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

He had a top 5 OPS last season as well, though. Yeah, Pujols is a contender, as is MCab and Votto, but I think Bautista is the best right now (obviously he's playing the best right now, and I think he's for real).

[Remember The Alomar]

What does HGH do? Seriousl, for those of us not in the know.

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

[MikeAD]

What does HGH do? Seriousl, for those of us not in the know.

It does a lot of things. It helps you recover from a workout quicker, it helps your immune system, it makes you stronger and healthier in terms of muscle growth and muscle use. To sum it up, it can make you feel like you are in shape 17 year old, as opposed to a 31 year old athlete.

As to what it does when it comes to baseball, who knows? For a guy like Roger Clemens, who worked out like a monster daily, it allowed him to recover from injuries and to work out muscles quicker and with less rebound time. This might have kept him on the mount and kept him in good condition but its not technically making him a better pitcher.

I'm not sure how HGH or some other form of help would allow Bautista to hit like this. I have yet to see an argument that supports it. Maybe he gets a boost on some long fly ball outs that make it over the fence, you know if the HGH allowed him to increase his well maintained workout.

Theres a lot to question over Bautista's recent success, but I think the most pressing question is how did he transform his career, how did he turn all the watching of tapes and working on his swing into success. It must have taken a ton of work to completely alter everything, hes probably been swinging a bat since he was a toddler. Impressive stuff.

[ledzepp8]

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

It doesn't make the player grow, as in like...get bigger?

How can they really debunk something that they clearly can't test?

[JDubs]

Wow, eight out of eleven of those guys are established and/or suspected steroids/PED users.

I was going to say the same thing. Very interesting...