Blue Jays to honour Jose Bautista on Level of Excellence

Jose Bautista will be part of the Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence.

The former Blue Jays slugger will likely be honoured in a pre-game ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 12 when Toronto takes on the Chicago Cubs.

Bautista joins George Bell, Dave Stieb, Joe Carter, Cito Gaston, Tony Fernandez, Pat Gillick, Tom Cheek, Paul Beeston, Carlos Delgado, and Roy Halladay on the Level of Excellence.

“Jose Bautista captured hearts and ignited a fan base as a part of the crew that introduced Toronto again to the post-season for the primary time in 22 years. His on-field achievements propelled the crew to greatness, and he undoubtedly belongs on the Blue Jays Level of Excellence,” mentioned president Mark Shapiro in a press release. “On behalf of the organization, we are proud to honour José and his remarkable career with Blue Jays fans in August.”

The Blue Jays acquired Bautista in a commerce with the Pittsburgh Pirates again in 2008. He would go on to set the Blue Jays’ single-season house run file, ending the 12 months with an MLB-leading 54 house runs in a breakout marketing campaign in 2010.

Bautista completed his time in Toronto with 288 house runs, trailing solely Joe Carter for probably the most in membership historical past. He hit extra house runs than every other participant in MLB from 2010 to 2015 and would go on to win three Silver Slugger Awards (2010, 2011, 2014) and seem in six straight MLB All-Star Games.

His most well-known second with the Blue Jays got here throughout Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS in opposition to the Texas Rangers, when his house run and bat flip within the sixth inning led to Toronto to a sequence victory. It was additionally the primary time in 22 years that the franchise reached the MLB playoffs.

The first 15,000 followers to enter the ballpark on Aug. 12 will obtain a Jose Bautista Bat Flip Bobblehead.

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