José Bautista

José Antonio Bautista Santos (born October 19, 1980) is a Dominican professional baseball right fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). His professional career began when the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the 20th round of the 2000 first year player draft. In 2010, Bautista became the 26th member of the 50 home run club while leading the major leagues in home runs for the first of two consecutive seasons, and, from 2010–15, has hit more home runs than any player in the major leagues. An MLB All-Star selection six consecutive times, he has won three Silver Slugger Awards and two Hank Aaron Awards. In addition, he has been granted the American League Player of the Month Award five times and the Player of the Week four times. Before being traded to the Blue Jays, Bautista primarily played third base.

Although major league scouts initally noted Bautista while in junior college for his batting skills – including power hitting potential – and a strong throwing arm, his career took detours until realizing that potential in 2010. He made his MLB debut with the Baltimore Orioles in 2004, and, that year, became the first player ever to appear on five MLB rosters in one season. The last of those clubs were the Pirates, where he played at five different positions as a utility player until being traded to the Blue Jays in 2008. After making adjustments to his swing, Bautista broke through with ten home runs in September 2009. He has since been voted in the top ten in the AL Most Valuable Player Award four times and is a leader or among the top ten in numerous offensive single-season and career categories in Blue Jays' franchise history.

José Bautista (pitcher)

José Joaquín Bautista Arias (born July 25, 1964) is a former right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1988 to 1997. Bautista is observantly Jewish, born to a Dominican father and an Israeli mother. His mother's family was originally from Russia, as is his wife. Bautista and his wife maintain a Kosher home, as do fellow Jewish former Major Leaguers Ken Holtzman and Jesse Levis. Despite the fact that several Major Leaguers have been from the Dominican Republic, Bautista is the only player from their small Jewish community that numbers around 300 persons.

Baseball career

Bautista was signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in April 1981. In 1984 he was 13–4 with a 3.13 ERA for Columbia in the South Atlantic League, and in 1985, 15–8 with a 2.34 earned run average (ERA) for Lynchburg in the Carolina League.

He pitched for seven years in the New York Mets system before being selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the December 1987 rule 5 draft. He joined the Orioles rotation in 1988, spending four years with them before moving to the Chicago Cubs (1993–94), San Francisco Giants (1995–96), Detroit Tigers (1997) and St. Louis Cardinals (1997).