Bautista's Convincing Case for MVP

A funny thing happened in 2003.  For the first time, probably since the back to back world series championships in 1992 and 1993, fans of the Toronto Blue Jays had something, more importantly, someone to be proud of. That player was the ace of the Blue Jays staff, Roy “Doc” Halladay.  

Halladay was the face of the franchise.  A true class act that seemed to epitomize the Canadian way.  It was in 2003 that Halladay walked away with the American League Cy Young Award.  Seven years later, Blue Jays fans have plenty of reasons to get behind their new classy leader, Jose Bautista, as he vies for another major piece of individual hardware.  This time, the AL MVP award.

Blue Jays outfielder/third baseman Jose Bautista deserves to be American League MVP.  The true definition of the MVP award is surely open to interpretation.  Should it matter if the player comes from a playoff team?  Are there a certain number of wins that a team should attain in order for their best player to qualify for the award?  These are appropriate questions that, to this day, still have not been answered.  MVP’s are voted for based on the personal preferences of the media members who vote.  However, it seems that the most prudential way of selecting the winner of the award should come from identifying the player who best epitomizes “value” to his team.  After all, the award is named for the Most Valuable Player. Here’s another way of looking at it, if said player is removed from his teams’ lineup, will the void left be too gaping to fill?  And will it be greater than the void left by the other MVP candidates? Neither one of these definitions proves that the appearance of the team in the postseason should have any bearing on whether a player wins the award.  This does not always seem to be the case in the minds of the voters, but for all-intensive purposes, this article shall approach the MVP award in its true sense, that of value.  And if the discussion is who is the most valuable player in the league, that player is Jose Bautista.

Nobody picked the Toronto Blue Jays to be where they were this season.  In fact, most baseball pundits had the “Doc-less” Jays finishing well below the .500 mark.  But in 2010, the Blue Jays finished the season at 85-77.  Still in fourth place in the division, but substantially better than anybody could have imagined them being.  The Blue Jays themselves were a macrocosm of their leader, Jose Bautista.  Nobody picked Jose Bautista to be in the running for AL MVP.  Nobody even thought Jose Bautista would hit more than 20 homeruns. He was supposed to be a stop-gap measure on a rebuilding team. But consider the following numbers: .260 avg, 54 homeruns, 124 rbis, .378 OBP.  Like his team, Bautista’s numbers were an overwhelming surprise.  He deserves the majority of the credit for leading the Jays to what can be considered a successful season.

Aside from his major league leading homerun number, Bautista has shown significant abilities that his greatest competitors for MVP have not, and that's in the field.  This is not to say Josh Hamilton isn’t a great centre fielder.  Or Robinson Cano isn’t an above average second baseman.  But Bautista didn't just excel at one position.  He did it in right field and at third base. Bautista was so versatile that he showed up at the ballpark on any given day willing to play at either position Cito Gaston felt necessary. Bautista has a plus arm for both the outfield and third base.  He has good speed.  Lost among many MLB fans is the difference in arm angle that an outfielder uses versus that of an infielder.  An outfielder throws straight overhand, trying to generate as much power with the body.  However an infielder will use more of a three-quarters release in an attempt to be more accurate.  Therefore, playing these two positions, Bautista was forced to switch his arm angle all the time.  Bautista only committed four errors at third base all year. He had only six in the outfield.  By comparison, Josh Hamilton had eight in centre field and he missed the Rangers last 20 games.  Perhaps Bautista’s biggest competitor for MVP, Miguel Cabrera, made 13 errors in 147 games at first base!  And neither Hamilton nor Cabrera had to deal with the intricacies of switching between the infield and the outfield.

When thinking of reasons why Bautista should not win MVP, most people will point to his batting average.  Granted, Bautista’s average this season was not close to Hamilton’s or Cabrera’s.  Bautista’s finished at .260, while Hamilton’s was at a hefty .359 and Cabrera’s is at a cool .328.  But on base percentage should matter more than batting average.  The objective of baseball is to score as many runs as possible.  The more time a batter spends on base, the greater chance he will give his team to win the game.  And if one were to look at OBP instead of batting average, the numbers are much closer.  Cabrera finished at .420, Hamilton at .411 and Bautista at .378.  Not nearly as drastic as the batting average numbers.

Furthermore in his case for MVP, Jose developed into the leader of the Blue Jays.  On a team with a significant Latino core, Bautista was often the liaison between the coaching staff and the Latino players.  And as the statistical leader, Bautista easily engrained a penchant for heart, hustle and passion into the minds of his teammates.  'If Jose can hit that many homers, why can’t we?'  That seemed to be the silent motto of the Jays as they climbed toward the franchise record for homeruns in a season.  

Perhaps the greatest example of Jose’s leadership came in an August 24^th game against the Yankees.  One at bat after Bautista took Yanks starter Ivan Nova deep, Nova threw at Bautista’s head causing him to duck for cover. Bautista, visibly angry, approached the mound and the benches cleared. But no punches were thrown.  Jose is too classy for that.  He waited until his next at-bat.  And then he did what he’s been doing all season.  Hit a homerun.  He stared at the pitching mound while trotting to first base, leaving a clear message to the Yankees and to the rest of major league baseball.  Jose Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays will not be pushed around.  Not anymore.  That type of leadership is what should epitomize an MVP.

Bautista’s case for MVP, both statistically and in the dugout is compelling.  Statistically, Bautista finished the season leading the AL in homeruns by a ridiculous 15 long bombs.  Voters should look past his apparent deficiencies in the batting average department and give the man his due.  Emotionally, Bautista energized a city in need of a leader.  The city has been devoid of one since the aforementioned “Doc” Halladay.  And while the Blue Jays were not in the playoffs this season, Bautista bringing home the MVP hardware will definitely give Blue Jays fans something to cheer about.