Jose Bautista has embraced his role as 'The Man' in Toronto, something the Jays haven't had in a while.
Definition: lead•er/'led'r/Noun
1. The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.
2. A person followed by others
By mere definition, that certainly describes Jose Antonio Bautista, right fielder of the Toronto Blue Jays and reigning major league home run champion, fresh off a 54 HR season to set a franchise record.
Never were his leadership skills more on display than on Wednesday afternoon in Seattle. With his team trailing 2-1 in the top of the 8th inning, looking in the eye of a three-game sweep at the hands of the Mariners (one of the worst teams in the American League), Bautista got every bit of a Chris Ray slider, launching it 377 feet into the Blue Jays bullpen in left field and keying a six-run inning. Losing streak over at four games, which made the late-night charter back east to Boston a lot more palatable.
Game-changing hits like Bautista's are the stuff of leaders, something that the Blue Jays haven't had in recent times. When one signs the type of contract that Bautista did at the beginning of spring training -- five years, $65 million -- doesn't only come with an expected level of performance, but also responsibility. And it's a responsibility that needs to be embraced by the individual.
That hasn't always been the case in Toronto. Carlos Delgado, for all his offensive skills and 100-watt smile, was never comfortable being "The Man" in the Blue Jays clubhouse. He preferred to let his bat do the talking.
After him it was Roy Halladay, although how much of a leader can a starting pitcher be when he's only between the lines once every five games? Plus, as we've heard whispered since his departure, Doc wasn't exactly the most approachable teammate, especially with his younger, impressionable fellow pitchers.
And then there was Vernon Wells, who -- like Delgado and Halladay -- was never comfortable being the face of the franchise. There was one moment that really stood out to me, a good example that Wells would never be the leader of the Blue Jays no matter how many zeroes were on his contract. It took place at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 15, 2009 when Jays reliever Jesse Carlson threw a pitch behind the back of Yankees catcher/weinmeister Jorge Posada leading to some yapping.
Later in the inning, Posada came around to score and as he passed Carlson, who was backing up the play behind home plate, threw an elbow at the Toronto left-hander and the fight was on.
As base-brawls go, this one had an elevated level of nasty. While several players threw punches and the bullpens raced in to join the fray, there was Wells standing at the back of the pile as a disinterested observer, still with his glove on. Now, maybe it's the raised-on-hockey Canadian in me, but you would have thought that a veteran like Wells would have been right in the middle of it all sticking up for a teammate. I guess Vernon never played hockey, eh?
Anyways, Bautista seems to have embraced his role and he said as much on that February afternoon when general manager Alex Anthopoulos made Jose rich beyond his wildest dreams. One Bautista quote from that media conference that resonated the most was when he said, "If I can be a mentor to some ... I'll try to lead by example. I'm not one of those guys who's going to act like a cheerleader ... if I can help by just doing things the way (I know how), then hopefully that's the right way."
That's exactly what he delivered with the three-run bomb on Wednesday.
In the four series to start this season, Bautista hasn't exactly been seeing a lot of good pitches to hit with not much protection coming from Adam Lind and Aaron Hill, leading to a team-high 10 walks in his first 44 plate appearances. That's what happens when you come out of nowhere to hit 54 home runs. The scouts followed him all last season and throughout this spring. Last year's fastballs are this year's off-speed pitches. But while Bautista has shown moments of impatience, he's still not the guy to make a mistake against, as we witnessed in Seattle.
He’s leading by example indeed, single-handedly derailing a losing streak that could have festered into something a lot worse heading into their first trip to Boston without that one big swing.
