Jose Bautista the most feared hitter in baseball?

[darth_federer]

We know more about baseball than we could dissect in a thousand lifetimes. Every pitch is tracked, every ball in play analyzed, every number computerized. Every player is rated, projected and graded.

We know everything.

Except we don’t. Which brings us to the amazing Jose Bautista ... the most feared hitter in baseball. There, I said it. Yes, more feared than Albert Pujols or Joey Votto or Josh Hamilton.

Anyway, back to my bold statement: After going 1-for-3 with a double and two more walks in Toronto’s 10-3 victory over Texas on Tuesday, Bautista has an insane .362/.522/.783 (BA/OBP/SLG) line, including an AL-leading eight home runs. If that seems Barry Bonds-esque, it’s because it is. Bautista has 23 walks in 20 games, something I’ll call the fear factor ratio. When pitchers are afraid to pitch to you, they walk you. Only seven hitters have played 100 games and had more walks than games played -- including Bonds five times (others are Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Mickey Mantle, Jack Clark and Eddie Joost).

Sure, you can argue that it’s easier to pitch around Bautista since nobody else in the Toronto lineup is hitting much right now. Or that pitchers have to challenge Pujols with the likes of Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman tearing it up behind him. FanGraphs lists data via Baseball Info Solutions on how many pitches in the strike zone each batter sees. Here are the 2010 and 2011 numbers (through Monday) for Bautista, Votto and Pujols:

Bautista: 45.3 percent in 2010, 34.7 percent in 2011.

Votto: 41.8 percent in 2010, 42.6 percent in 2011.

Pujols: 44.2 percent in 2010, 48.7 percent in 2011.

Now, I told you we had data for everything. Bautista’s percentage does lead the majors in 2011. But it’s just a data point, and you can analyze it any number of ways.

In the end, this is really a feel thing. And right now -- April 2011 -- Bautista feels like the most feared, most dominating hitter in the majors.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/ ... e-bautista

Getting a lot of love from all the major outlets...

[xAIRNESSx]

Can we say it already?

Bautista is the G.O.A.T.

[gei]

Imagine how much better he would be doing with some actual protection behind him? AA is a fool for not signing someone like Vladdy to bat behind him...

[dballislife]

AA wasnt aggressive enough in the summer to really stack up the team

[Relentless88]

AA is probably waiting to spend next off season.

[righteous015]

Once the Playoff expansion is approved, no doubt in my mind AA is gonna go big on spending.

[dballislife]

its about time mlb start making major changes, lessen season games, extend playoffs, work on some sort of salary cap, make both leagues play under same rules

[SharoneWright]

Imagine how much better he would be doing with some actual protection behind him?

Or if Dwayne Murphy gave the same magical batting tip to the rest of the team...

[rarefind]

you guys do realize that if he aa fails to get bautista another battery mate to push lind to that six spot at the least he will face some serious heat. rogers going out and adding a premier hitter like albert or prince will cost them a bundle (and one of aa's draft picks) but it will make jose that much better. if this team is serious or not may in fact be seen this summer.

[darth_federer]

Imagine how much better he would be doing with some actual protection behind him? AA is a fool for not signing someone like Vladdy to bat behind him...

Mike Wilner always says that lots of studies show that protection for a player is a myth and that there isnt a huge difference or benefit. But I saw the Rangers change the way they pitched to Bautista after Lind was on fire. Might be something to look at in the future.