Longtime Toronto Blue Jays outfielder José Bautista made the poll for baseball’s 2024 Corridor of Fame.
Bautista was one in every of 28 gamers introduced on the poll, together with former Blue Jays beginning pitcher Mark Buehrle and infielder José Reyes.
It’s Bautista’s first 12 months of eligibility.
The 43-year-old performed 10 seasons in Toronto, rising as one in every of baseball’s finest sluggers whereas North of the Border.
He ranks among the many prime 5 in a number of Blue Jays all-time classes, together with residence runs (288), RBIs (766), walks (803), and video games performed (1,235). He additionally ranks first amongst Blue Jays place gamers in Wins Above Substitute (WAR), with 38.3 accrued throughout his tenure.
Bautista was a six-time All-Star, main the most important leagues in residence runs in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011 with 54 and 43, respectively. The 54 residence runs he slugged in 2010 are a single-season Blue Jays document, as is the 8.4 WAR he posted in 2011.
The previous outfielder can also be accountable for one of many biggest moments, if not the best, in Blue Jays’ historical past along with his memorable 2015 bat-flip residence run within the American League Division Sequence (ALDS) in opposition to the Texas Rangers.
The widely-recognized residence run guided the Blue Jays to their first American League Championship Sequence (ALCS) since 1993, the final time Toronto gained the World Sequence. Bautista and the Blue Jays would advance to the ALCS once more in 2016, shedding to the Cleveland Indians (now the Guardians).
Bautista was inducted into Toronto’s Degree of Excellence on August 12, 2023. The day earlier than the ceremony, he signed a one-day contract with the group and formally introduced his retirement as a Toronto Blue Jay.
