to be fair
we may never know
and sometimes players have "that" magical year.
Tito Francona, (Terry's dad) hit something like .363 in 1959 -- Tito was a good player -- but .363 was just off the charts
Davey Johnson gets traded to Atlanta in 1973 and goes from a previous high of 18 homers all the way to 43
Tony Gonzalez, a competant but not great major leaguer -- somehow hits .339 in 1967 during the age of the pitcher. In retrospect, who saw that coming
Felix Mantilla goes to Boston in 1964, becomes a regular and hits 30 homers that year. He had never really been close before
Cleon Jones was a good major league hitter, but in 1969 -- he hit .340 or so to help the Mets win the World Series.
(If my figures are wrong, I'm doing this from the top of my head and don't be afraid to post the real numbers and I'll edit them)
My point is, sometimes players have those magical years and sometimes everything just clicks for a year. A player might start strong, make a minor adjustment, and gains confidence. All of a sudden, they are in the "Sweet spot" and that sweet spot lasts a full season -- or in a tennis grand slam for the full 2 weeks. I always like to point out Andres Gomez the 1990 French Open tennis champion.
Andres was an honest professional, a better doubles player than singles player, but beat a young Andre Agassi to win that final. After that, he only played 2 more years and never got past the 2nd round of a major nor had he been that close before. But things broke right for "go-go" in those 2 weeks and he is a grand slam winner.
So, we'll never know with Bautista, but "fluky" things do happen
Rich
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