We catch up with the Blue Jays' home run king and ask him how he's feeling after taking a fastball to the head on Tuesday night.
Taking a break from breaking records, Toronto Blue Jays home run king Jose Bautista was on site at 25 York St. today to announce his new partnership with Booster Juice (apparently he loves that fresh blended fruit) and sign autographs for the throng of fans who waited in the rain to meet their hero. Love for the slugger abounds in this city, which means it was no surprise that the first people in line had been waiting since 4 a.m.
Bautista spent a few hours signing novelty neon Booster Juice–monogrammed baseballs (and only those baseballs, to the dismay of disappointed fans hoping to increase the value of their old school Jays hats and jerseys), and in between autographs he took a few minutes to talk to us. Here are a few things we learned about Joey Bats at today’s autograph session.
1. He loves Toronto.
“Toronto’s actually my favourite city out of all the ones I’ve played in,” Bautista confirms (take that, Kansas City!). When he arrived in 2008, Bautista says he automatically felt very accepted, and enjoys the diversity and, oddly, the cleanliness of the GTA.
2. He has high hopes for the Jays, but doesn’t set personal goals.
“I hope we can get to the playoffs,” he mused. “We just made some trades and got some new faces, so hopefully they’ll help us climb to the top and fight with the Yankees and Red Sox for the division title.” He also says he doesn’t dwell too much on streakiness at the plate. “I just try to play well on a daily basis. Trying to contribute everyday so that the team wins is the most important thing for me right now.”
3. He’s not superstitious.
Though he says he has a routine he likes to stick to before every game (research, prep, practice, eat) he doesn’t feel nervous if he’s forced to alter it. And as for his on deck song, Usher’s “OMG,” he says, “Actually, a teammate picked it out for me and I started hitting well, so we just rolled with it. I never thought it was a good luck charm, but my teammates did, so for their sake, I kept it.” Expect to hear something different when he steps up to bat sometime soon though, as Bautista says he thinks, after a year and a half, it might be time to switch tunes.
4. He’s feeling fine, thanks for asking.
Despite suffering a recent ankle injury and an unexpected shot to the head, the outfielder/third baseman says he’s doing fine and feels fortunate the injuries weren’t worse. “I know I got hit in the head and it looked pretty bad, but it wasn’t as bad as it looked,” he admits. And the ankle? “It’s a little bit sore and not 100% yet, but it’s getting better every day.”
