someone expain Joey Bats to me

[stevew]

Bautista hit number 50 the other night. I'm so tired of hearing that it is roids

Is it as simple as
1. Dude decided to sell out to hit fly balls at a rate he never approached before
2. An Adam Dunn percentage went over the fence.
3. The skydome is a hitters paradise
4. He decided that he was going to pull everything.

I understand thru stats those would be logical explanations. Like neo in the Matrix, I cannot accept this reality

[Scoobz0202]

and by pull everything, you mean pull EVERYTHING. Saw that every one of his home runs has been pulled. crazy

[stevew]

Kudos to him if he found a recipe that works. I thought he was disgruntled garbage in Pittsburgh.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by stevew

Kudos to him if he found a recipe that works. I thought he was disgruntled garbage in Pittsburgh.

I guess "recipe that works" is probably the right phrase...

[Young Drachma]

Ok, so I'm a Jays fan. But I don't think he's juicing. His swing is legit and he's finally getting a chance to play. Either way, it's all going to waste because we're not going to the playoffs. Again.

[SackAttack]

I think it's at least partly selling out for the flyballs. His BABIP is something like 100 points lower than Konerko, who's 2nd in the league in HR.

Basically, Bautista isn't one of those guys who focuses on driving the ball and just letting it happen the way a Pujols might.

He's goin' for the fences, and getting the HR in respectable numbers, but still only hitting about .260.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I think it's at least partly selling out for the flyballs. His BABIP is something like 100 points lower than Konerko, who's 2nd in the league in HR.

Basically, Bautista isn't one of those guys who focuses on driving the ball and just letting it happen the way a Pujols might.

He's goin' for the fences, and getting the HR in respectable numbers, but still only hitting about .260.

Nice to throw out batting average and failing to mention that he does indeed draw walks as well.

I don't think it's roids either, but I'm also a Jays fan. It's made the season at least somewhat exciting, even if we don't make the playoffs.

[MrBug708]

I dont think walks have anything to do with the discussion

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Ok, so I'm a Jays fan. But I don't think he's juicing. His swing is legit and he's finally getting a chance to play. Either way, it's all going to waste because we're not going to the playoffs. Again.

Dude. He got a ton of at bats in Pittsburgh. Granted it isn't good for right handed hitters.

[DeToxRox]

Bautista is a monster right now, really fun to watch, and he's swung his way into the MVP discussion.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Nice to throw out batting average and failing to mention that he does indeed draw walks as well.

I don't think it's roids either, but I'm also a Jays fan. It's made the season at least somewhat exciting, even if we don't make the playoffs.

I ain't sayin' he's not a good player.

What I'm saying is, he's not the kind of guy who looks to put solid wood on the ball first and take what that gives him.

He's become a prototypical .260/.560 kind of guy. He's not ever going to be the Pujols type who'll hit you 40-50 *and* hit .330 in the process.

He's kind of a power hitter in your classical mode. When he hits the ball, he's gonna hit it REAL hard, and he'll draw a fair number of walks as well. Mark McGwire circa 1992 is probably a pretty good comparison.

You wouldn't turn your nose up at either one of those guys.

But when you're asking the question "why is this happening?" The answer "selling out to hit more fly balls" is probably a good start at answering the question.