With the recent injuries to outfielders Juan Lagares and Yoenis Cespedes, the New York Mets looked outside of the organization for help by signing Jose Bautista to a 1-year minimum contract on Tuesday. The Mets will look to see if the former Silver Slugger Award winner has anything left in the tank as his career is on the decline.
Now 37 years old, Bautista is by no means the player he once was. Prior to signing with New York, Jose was released from division rival Atlanta Braves only 2 days prior, batting .143 (5-for-35) with two home runs in 12 games with the team this season.
This isn’t the type of statistics we are used to seeing from Joey Bats. He reached the height of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2010 and 2011, when he put up a combined 97 home runs (led the MLB) to go along with a .281 batting average in those two seasons.
New York made use of Jose immediately. According to Gary Cohen, broadcaster for the Mets, Jose Bautista “arrived at Laguardia at 6:30, and made it to the ballpark at 6:45.”
Mickey Calloway didn’t hesitate to make use of his newly acquired power hitter. He inserted him as the 5th hitter in the lineup and started him in left field for the first time in his career since 2009. With lefty pitcher Caleb Smith on the mound, Calloway decided he wanted to load his lineup with righty bats, which made Bautista an ideal candidate to start on Tuesday.
It didn’t take long for him to start contributing, doubling and scoring a run in the second inning. Despite his efforts, the Mets fell to the Marlins 5-1.
Welcome to The Big Apple, José Bautista!#Mets @JoeyBats19 pic.twitter.com/XcP7lM3wbN
— ? BIG APPLE METS ⚾️ (@BigAppleNYM) May 23, 2018
Featured Image Via Flickr/Keith Allison
