Blue Jays: Jose Bautista struggling early in his new home

Jose Bautista had a rough final season in Toronto with the Blue Jays, and so far things haven’t gone a lot better as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

Even if it looked really strange, or even felt flat out wrong, 99% of Blue Jays fans were happy to see Jose Bautista get a big league job when he signed with the Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately his time had come to an end in Toronto, and for quite a while we had to wonder if anyone was going to sign the six time All-Star. Eventually his old pal Alex Anthopoulos gave him an opportunity with the Braves where he is now GM, creatively finding him a spot at third base.

I can’t speak for the rest of you on this, but I was personally hoping that Bautista would flourish in Atlanta and show the Blue Jays and their fans that he has some gas left in the tank, especially far away in the NL East. There were minimal hard feelings last season when his tenure came to an end, and it was hard to argue with the front office about being ready to move on. Unfortunately, it was the worst season of his big league career since becoming a full-time player, and the Blue Jays needed an injection of youth into their lineup.

Finally on April 18th, the Braves inked Bautista to a minor league contract, and promoted him to the big league roster on May 4th for his debut in a new uniform. Despite being expected to be cellar dwellers this year, the Braves have surprised with a 24-15 start, so Bautista’s acquisition could give them a couple uses. In one scenario, he’s a veteran bat added on a bargain that could help the young roster compete as the season wears on. In another scenario, if the Braves fall out of the race and Bautista performs well individually, he could bring them a prospect or two in a deadline deal to a contender. The signing made sense, even if Atlanta didn’t seem like the obvious choice, especially as a third baseman.

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Unfortunately though, it hasn’t been going terribly well for the 37 year old, at least not yet. He’s played in nine games thus far, which includes his pinch hit appearance on Sunday. Although it’s a small sample size, Bautista’s slash line is .160/.276/.320 after Sunday’s at bat, for a total of 25 at bats. He’s picked up just one home run, four RBI, and one double so far as well, although he has hit the ball hard a few times with no luck too.

I’m quite certain the Braves will give Bautista a lot more than 25 at bats to show what he can do, but I don’t expect it to go a lot beyond 100 if he’s still hitting .160 when he gets there. He has to play catch up in a way, as his season started after the rest of the league, and it’s quite reasonable that he was going to need a little time to get up to speed. That said, because he was brought in on a minor league deal, one that only pays him one million on the big league roster, he’s an easy guy for the Braves to designate for assignment as well.

Hopefully he’ll get into a groove at the plate as he gets more at bats under his belt, and will be able to prove a lot of doubters wrong. It would be a shame for someone with the legend status that Bautista’s got around Toronto to have to leave the game with such a whimper. It’s bad enough the way his time quietly came to an end with the Blue Jays, so hopefully he can change the narrative in Atlanta this year, and go out on his own terms at the very least.

So far it hasn’t been all that great at the plate with the Braves, although he did hit his first home run on Saturday, or hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come.

Next: The biggest surprises so far in the 2018 season