Blue Jays 2015 Year End Awards: Best Social Media Presence

Social media has allowed fans to interact with their favorite players in ways they never could before. Some have proven to be witty and entertaining. Others, well, they probably shouldn’t take to Twitter. Either way, social media has also allowed players to express emotions and thoughts that the previous generation could only imagine when hearing about pitchers swapping wives. So which Blue Jays player was the best at manipulating the various iterations of media? This was almost another unanimous decision, but someone did break-up the monopoly that one particular player had on this category…

Runner Up: Jose Bautista

The lone dissenting vote in this category came from Jays Journal co-editor Keegan Matheson, who adamantly voted for Jose Bautista on the strength of this tweet alone:

That tweet was in response to Toronto Sun columnist and stalker of hot dog carts Steve Simmons after Simmons posited that Kansas City eliminated Oakland in the playoffs last year on the strength of the zero deadline deals made by the Royals, directly referencing Bautista’s supposed funk because the Blue Jays failed to make any deals in a playoff push. Matheson did not yield from his position despite this tweet coming last year, stating “I will answer with Jose Bautista until the end of time.”

Bautista had a solid contributing year on Twitter, alternating between inspirational quotes from sports legends and emoji filled praise of fan and player alike. His biggest piece though was his article on the Players’ Tribune, going inside his mindset during his Play of the Year-Worthy home run against Texas. It was insightful, addressed the emotion of the situation, and the growing shift in baseball culture with the influx of Latino players in the majors.

Next: 2015 Social Media Award Winner: Well, What Else Was He Going To Do?