We’ve seen several lazy passes at explaining the phenomenon that is the late-blooming Jose Bautista. Most of them -- empty “gee-whiz” musings at best, veiled PED accusations at worst -- start from the proposition that Bautista came from out of nowhere and started hitting home runs like some kind of freak.
But Jose Bautista is not quite the freak of nature that he is often made out to be. There’s a story there, involving years of hard work, freak injuries, professional wilderness and then, finally, stability and adjustment that, when read as a whole, makes eminent sense.
Jeff Passan has that story today over at The Post Game. A long, thoughtful report and meditation on where Jose Bautista came from and how he got to where he is now. It’s must-read material.
