Jose Bautista was confident he still had it in him all along.
Even as he began the 2018 season without a team, and even after his 15th year in the big leagues began with a brief, unproductive stint with the Braves before he was released — a scuffling stretch that continued in his first 22 games as a Met — Bautista said he believed he could still make an impact.
The confidence kept him going, even if the results didn’t back him up.
“As an athlete, I think that’s the last thing you lose, right?” Bautista said. “Once that happens, I think that’s when most guys — either that or injuries — decide to call it quits. When that time comes for me, I’ll probably do the same. But right now, I still feel capable, I still feel confident and when I go out there, I know that I can compete.”
The 37-year-old is now proving it on a daily basis.
Bautista entered Saturday with a .931 OPS over his past 25 games after his rough beginning with the Mets, a stretch in which he has taken over playing time on a consistent basis at the corner outfield spots and third base.
“He has been such a good player for many, many years. So you always think they have it in them, which is one of the reasons we got him,” manager Mickey Callaway said, lauding the mental and physical preparation Bautista has maintained throughout his career.
“You can’t ever count those type of guys out. I think he’s done a great job of coming in here, putting himself in a position to succeed by — he wasn’t playing much when he first got here. He grinded it out, he wasn’t worried about his playing time, just kept on working every day. Then when he got the opportunity, he kind of seized it. Now he’s reaping the benefits and so are we.”
Bautista was back in the lineup Saturday batting third and playing right field, his 20th start in the past 22 games dating to June 21 — two days after Jay Bruce was placed on the disabled list with a sore right hip. He went 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored in the Mets’ 7-4 win over the Nationals at Citi Field
The six-time All-Star has spent most of that time in the top third of the Mets’ lineup while rediscovering some of the power that made him a force with the Blue Jays. All five of Bautista’s home runs this year have come in the past 26 games.
“It’s definitely a good feeling to contribute,” said Bautista, a potential trade chip for the Mets. “But it’s also nice to get rewarded for putting in the work and going through the grind every single day and maybe not getting the results you want for a period of time and then seeing the positive results. It’s definitely encouraging.”
That work was going on while Bautista was trying to find a rhythm, first with the Braves, then with the Mets, who signed Bautista on May 22 at the major league minimum. In his first 34 games of the year, with sporadic playing time, he had a slash line of .177/.327/.329.
Now he is breaking out the bat, moving closer to being the player he believes he can still be.
“I think playing consistently has allowed me to sort of get in a rhythm and make adjustments from day to day,” he said. “Hopefully I can continue to do that and maybe even get a little bit better at-bat to at-bat, and even in the middle of at-bats, making some adjustments that sometimes I’ve failed to make.”