I got wind of this article on the Bleacher Report via DHSpeedwagon on Twitter; you don't really need to read the article. The short version is: Sydney Hunte doesn't believe Bautista is naturally hitting all these home runs (and actually called this a "sudden and surprising power surge" - as sudden as "since last season" can be), and attributes his prowess at the plate to steroids.
I won't deny that it IS possible his power comes from The Juice; however I also don't think it's impossible that Bautista is doing this on his own. Matt has commented on Bautista's work at the plate before - he really works the count. And really, he has to; because of his consistent power, opposing teams would rather walk him than risk the wrath of the bat.
I'd like to find a statistic that shows how many pitches he's faced in the years where he wasn't hitting many dingers, to how many he faces now. I am fairly confident that we'd find that his pitch count against (is that even a real statistic?) is a lot higher in the last three years than earlier in his career.
I think this is more a case of the writer of the article not paying much attention. He's calling Bautista's power surge an overnight change, and that a change in his approach to hitting couldn't possibly be the answer. I think that it is, and I think many fans - and the league - believe Bautista is clean.
A blog about the Blue Jays with minimal references to sabermetrics while still acknowledging their existence and validity...
I agree, in the past year and a half (dating back to Sept. '09 when his HR surge started), Bautista's swing has changed quite a bit. Also, his eye for the strike zone is better this year than last. I'm pretty sure that steroid's don't improve your eyesight or batting instinct. Also Jose's 6' and 195 pounds which is rather small even for a slugger...
ReplyDeleteHe's on HGH. It's obvious, and baseball has seen this a million times before. Roider.
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked, HGH and steroids are different things... Nonetheless, the only thing that has changed in the past couple years are Jose Bautista's numbers. He hasn't gained any muscle weight or increased shoe size at all.
ReplyDeleteof course he's on steroids. you would have to be a fool to think otherwise. his numbers are outrageous and what I would consider to be prototypical steroid user numbers. the easiest way to spot a user is a combination of abnormally high average, high hrs, and high rbis. we are usually talking in the top five in the league in all categories. that is not to say that anyone who does not put up numbers like that does not use steroids. But, you can be sure when someone puts up numbers like bautista they are cheating. He is also dominican and your best south american players are often, if not always, cheating. they are also skilled at cleaning out the evidence from their system prior to testing. See http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2763194. This is not the only article on the subject.
ReplyDeleteYou're entitled to your opinion, but I have to disagree on this one. Also, painting South Americans as cheaters/PED users borders on a racial bias and is at the very least encouraging a negative stereotype. Out of curiousity, do you watch Bautista on a regular basis? If you take the time to see how he approaches an at bat, you'll know that his numbers aren't produced by steroids. Along with changing teams (and coaches) he's changed his approach at the plate and become a smarter hitter. HGH and steroids don't make you a smarter player.
ReplyDeleteAlso, come to think of it, I don't think there are many major leaguers coming out of South America...
ReplyDeleteYou can see Bautista's pitches per plate appearance (P/PA) here...
ReplyDeletehttp://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/5890/jose-bautista
I don't know that this supports your theory as he's remained relatively consistent in that area. From 2006 forward, he's averaged a little over 4 P/PA, save for part of 2008 when he was just under 4. Seems like he's worked the count throughout his career.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting those stats, Mike!
ReplyDeletethere are a ton of players from south america in the major leagues. you must be naive. also, they use weird shit like animal testosterone.
ReplyDeleteas far as racial bias goes, i never said all of these low-life cheating south american spics, like albert puljos, are infesting the major leagues and getting rich off of naive white people who still want to believe in this american dream kevin costner field of dreams bullshit, when, in reality, baseball has become soulless, corporate sham.... if i said something like that, then you might be able to accuse me of racial bias. however, i never said south americans are the only ones who cheat. there are plenty of white and black cheaters too. take for example about 95 percent of the yankees starting lineup. they are cheating. yet, they are not all from south america.
See http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1406806/posts.
if you want to remain blind, that is your choice. i'm just giving you another option. of course the fans will rarely if ever get any hard evidence on these cheaters because the mlb wants the cheating to continue. both the players and the owners stand to gain financially while ignorant fans get to watch a game tainted by cheating scum.
It must be easy to post quasi-racist rants from your shield of anonymity...
ReplyDeleteYour links are outdated and testing has increased since the steroid hearings by US Congress. The only South American countries to produce MLB players are Venezuela and Colombia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Major_League_Baseball_players_by_nationality#South_America
Also, in the past few years, we're seeing momentum shift back in the pitcher's favour, which suggests that less players are using steroids/HGH.
And check your facts, Albert Pujols is from the Dominican Republic which is in the Caribbean.