Essentially, the Braves are taking a risk-free chance on Bautista, who signed a Minor League deal on Wednesday with the understanding he will only play third base as he attempts to make his way to the Major League level. A source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand that Bautista will earn $1 million if he reaches the bigs. He'll spend time at the team's Spring Training facility before being assigned to a Minor League affiliate.
ATLANTA -- Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos saw Jose Bautista become one of baseball's top power hitters while they were together in Toronto. Now, he's going to give the veteran slugger a chance to extend his career by proving he can play third base.
ATLANTA -- Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos saw Jose Bautista become one of baseball's top power hitters while they were together in Toronto. Now, he's going to give the veteran slugger a chance to extend his career by proving he can play third base.
Essentially, the Braves are taking a risk-free chance on Bautista, who signed a Minor League deal on Wednesday with the understanding he will only play third base as he attempts to make his way to the Major League level. A source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand that Bautista will earn $1 million if he reaches the bigs. He'll spend time at the team's Spring Training facility before being assigned to a Minor League affiliate.
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Bautista served as the Pirates' primary third baseman in 2007, and he occasionally played the position with the Blue Jays from 2009-11. The six-time All-Star and two-time American League Hank Aaron Award winner made four starts as Toronto's third baseman last year, but he has spent most of the past serving as an outfielder.
Video: TOR@BAL: Bautista starts at third, turns double play
The Braves have received better-than-expected results, as Ryan Flaherty has manned third base and Johan Camargo could see time at the hot corner once he is activated from the disabled list, possibly within the next few days.
But in an attempt to add power and some potential protection for Freddie Freeman, the Braves are going to provide this opportunity to Bautista, who has hit at least 20 homers each of the past eight seasons. The 37-year-old veteran altered the course of his career when he hit a Major League-high 54 home runs in 2010, which was Anthopoulos' first season as the Blue Jays GM.
Bautista hit .228 and averaged 28 homers per season over the past three years. He hit just .203 with 23 homers and a .674 OPS last year with Toronto.
Photo: Tom Szczerbowski (Getty)
Poor José Bautista. The former Blue Jays slugger had six straight All-Star campaigns for the Jays and banged out one of the most iconic playoff home runs of the decade. But instead of settling into the second or third year of one last long-term contract, the 37-year-old has wound up in the Braves’ infield.
Bautista almost certainly landed on the Braves because GM Alex Anthopoulos ran the Blue Jays throughout Bautista’s heyday. After outplaying a six-year, $78 million deal, Bautista rightly wanted to end his career with a lucrative extension ahead of the 2016 season. The Jays wouldn’t meet his asking price of five years and $150 million, and Bautista refused to budge. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out for Bautista in 2016, and he returned to the Jays on a one-year, $18 million deal last season that neither side was happy with. After another year in steep decline, Bautista was unable to secure a major-league deal for the 2018 season.
Per MLB.com, Bautista will earn $1 million if he reaches the big-league club. Bautista began his career playing third base, though he’s logged just 12 games there since the 2012 season. Atlanta is off to a pleasant 9-7 start, and incumbent third baseman Ryan Flaherty is hitting .354. It’s unlikely that Bautista will dislodge Flaherty, but he could definitely hit a few dingers for the Braves if he works his way into the lineup.
CLOSE In the first two-plus weeks of the MLB season, there have been 24 postponed games due to inclement weather. USA TODAY Sports
Jose Bautista hit a career-low .203 with 23 home runs in 157 games last season. (Photo: Troy Taormina, USA TODAY Sports)
Jose Bautista has found a home after sitting out spring training.
Bautista, 37, agreed to a one-year, minor-league deal with the Braves and has reported to Atlanta’s extended spring training complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., the club announced on Wednesday.
The Braves say he will play third base -- a position he hasn't played full time since 2008 with the Pittsburgh Pirates -- and not the outfield, where he has played most since 2009.
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Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos was in Toronto when Bautista became a perennial slugger and All-Star, hitting 288 home runs in 10 seasons. And with No. 1 prospect Ronald Acuna expected to fill out the outfield sometime later this season, Anthopoulos will give the veteran a shot at the hot corner.
Bautista led the American League in home runs in 2010 and 2011. He's one of three players, along with Nelson Cruz and Giancarlo Stanton, to slug at least 20 homers in eighth consecutive seasons since 2010.
Last season, he hit a career-low .203 with 23 home runs in 157 games before becoming a free agent.
If Bautista reaches the majors, he would be paid $1 million, according to Fan Rag Sports.
Long-time Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista finally found a new home Wednesday, signing a minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves. The move reunites the free agent with former Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who is now at the helm in Georgia. Bautista, who spent more than nine years with in Toronto before the club declined to pick up his mutual option last fall, inked a one-year contract for this season and has reported to the organization’s extended spring training complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Read more: Blue Jays place Josh Donaldson on DL with shoulder inflammation, recall Teoscar Hernandez
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Unlike his time in Toronto, where he played predominantly in right field, the 37-year-old is expected to move to third base. Bautista has played 377 games at that position over the course of his 14-year big-league career.
When told where Bautista had landed, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was all for the deal. “I like it,” Gibbons said, surmising that Bautista could form a platoon with Atlanta’s current third baseman Ryan Flaherty. Flaherty, 31 years old and a seven-year veteran himself, has had a strong start to the season, playing in all but one of the Braves’ 15 games heading into Wednesday and hitting a National League-leading .354. Should Bautista make it back to the major leagues, he would return to his old stomping grounds for a two-game series against the Blue Jays on June 19 and 20.
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“I’d be happy to see him,” Gibbons said. “It’d be good to see him.” Asked if he thought Bautista would get a warmer reception than infielder Ryan Goins — who was greeted with a standing ovation when he entered the game for his new club, the Kansas City Royals, at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday afternoon — Gibbons said yes, with a laugh. “I’m sure it’d be pretty cool for Jose, unless we’ve got no crowd that night,” Gibbons quipped. Bautista sits second on the Blue Jays’ all-time list for home runs and runs, and third in RBIs, extra-base hits and total bases. He’s a franchise icon but was coming off his worst season with the team, finishing with a .203 batting average and a franchise-record 170 strikeouts. The six-time all-star did hit 23 homers and drove in 65 RBI in 2017. Bautista led the majors in home runs in 2010 and 2011, and of course, delivered the famous “bat flip” after his three-run homer helped beat Texas in the 2015 American League Division Series. Bautista earned $18 million under a one-year deal with Toronto last season and became a free agent after the team decided to move on.
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