Power Surge

Earlier this week, Toronto Blue Jays right-fielder Jose Bautista hit his league leading 50th home run, becoming the first player in franchise history to hit 50 HR's in a single season. 50 may not seem like a lot of long balls considering the high frequency of home runs we've grown accustomed to seeing over the past few years, but those numbers have began to die down and decrease now that baseball is in what's become known as the post-steroid era. Prior to Bautista's offensive outburst this year, no player has reached the half-century mark since the 2007 season when Yankees third-baseman Alex Rodriguez hit 54 homers in route to being crowned the AL MVP award winner.

Home runs aren't what they used to be, since being tainted by the large quantity of players being busted with performance enhancing drugs most notably from the Mitchell Report, but they're slowly becoming significant again now that the league has a more strict drug policy. What I find most intriguing about the 29 year old Bautista, is that during the thick of things when most players were being stamped with PED's, Jose's home run numbers were nowhere near the top of the list. In fact, prior to Bautista showcasing his power surge north of the border this year, he's never hit more than 16 HR's in a season. In his previous six big league seasons, Bautista has a combined home run total of 59. As of today, he stands tall with 54 big fly's on the year, only five HR's less than the total he's accumulated in his first six years, which in itself is a remarkable statistic.

Despite his impressive showing this year, can the late blooming slugger continue to hit for power into the future, or is Bautista another one of baseball's one-hit-wonders? Regardless if his 2010 campaign is a fluke or not, I sure appreciate all he's done for my Fantasy Team since acquiring him in early June. ;)