BUFFALO — Jose Bautista is starting to feel like his old self.
The Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, who has been out since mid-June with turf toe, acknowledged his toe isn’t yet 100 per cent but he feels he’s healthy enough to come up to the big-leagues once he completes his rehab assignment this weekend with triple-A Buffalo.
“I could [return] right now,” Bautista said Friday after batting practice with the Bisons. “But it’s not a matter of being selfish and getting up there. I need to get through some of that shyness and timidness of the body when you haven’t played in a few weeks. Like I said, get reps and feeling more fine-tuned, as they say, instead of trying to get settled and feel my legs underneath me as well.
“I’m not a young buck anymore. I’ve been there [and] done that. I’ve recovered from many different injuries and I don’t expect this to be something that lingers. I’m ready to go.”
Bautista played seven innings of right field Friday night in a 7-1 loss to the Gwinnett Braves, going 0-for-3 at the plate in his first game with the Bisons, and will shift to designated hitter on Saturday where the club expects him to play in all nine innings.
“It’s one step closer,” Bautista said after the game. “Felt pretty good. I don’t have any pain or anything like that. Encouraging stuff (Friday). Wish I could have contributed a little more but their guy (Gwinnett starter Rob Whalen) is pretty good. He had a little movement on the ball that I really couldn’t figure out.”
He also made one catch in right field, but had difficulty reading a hit to right-centre field that was caught, on a nice defensive play, by Buffalo centre fielder Dalton Pompey.
“It’s windy out there so it’s a good challenge for me having to move side to side on high fly balls like that, especially that first one,” Bautista said. “Luckily Pompey knows the field and the wind pretty good because I was no where near it. The wind is howling here. I thought the ball was going in a completely different direction so I’m glad he bailed me out.”
The 35-year-old spent the majority of the last month in Florida rehabbing his injury after he stubbed his toe into the plexiglass protecting the right-field scoreboard at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. He began game action earlier this week, where he homered in his only game with Dunedin, the Blue Jays’ single-A affiliate.
“Everything is pretty good,” Bautista said. “Obviously not 100 per cent but I don’t think anybody really plays at 100 per cent in the big leagues anymore these days. It’s long season. … It’s definitely in playing condition. It’s just getting reps now and getting up there and fine-tuning the vision and the swing so I can step in and contribute right away.”
Bautista admitted he wasn’t sure where he would hit when he eventually returned to Toronto, but Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told reporters prior to Friday’s game he envisions him moving into the leadoff spot, where he was primarily hitting before suffering his injury.
Otherwise, Bautista did not have any issues responding from game action earlier in the week, and he didn’t feel any lingering pain in his toe other than the “typical soreness and tightness” that comes with sitting out a month.
“It’s always tough to deal with any injury,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be something that wasn’t going to affect me in a negative way. I wanted to get mentally stronger and work on the weaknesses that I had. And I think I’m in a better shape to help the team now.”
Bautista did not want to discuss his pending free agency and his focus at this stage remains getting his regular repetitions with his bat and hopefully getting in chances to run the bases later in the weekend.
“I haven’t gotten to do that yet because the game in Dunedin I hit a home run,” Bautista explained. “And then I got out twice so hopefully I get to pass that test (Saturday) and run the bases.”
In the meantime, it was comforting for Bautista to play with of familiar faces in 2015-16 teammates Ryan Goins and Chris Colabello in the Bisons’ clubhouse but admitted he doesn’t expect to be in Buffalo for long and is fired up to re-join the Blue Jays, who are in the midst of a playoff race.
“I’ve been watching our games but I don’t try to pay attention too much to trades,” he said. “We’ve been playing great and with us three going up at some point, I don’t know what other injection another major-league team would get of this calibre so we’re in pretty good shape.”
Colabello says Bautista did a fantastic job keeping his body in shape and eating healthy down in Florida and the Blue Jays star has looked very impressive throughout his rehab.
“He looks like Jose,” Colabello said laughing. “[In] a lot of ways I envy him. I want to eat Buffalo chicken. He’s always eating healthy and working out. That’s part of what makes him who he is. Part of being a great player.”
Once he gets his timing down, Bautista expects to make a quick impact at the plate as he hit .230/.360/.455 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI in 65 games this season before landing on the DL.
“I’m very excited,” Bautista said. “This is what I love doing. This is what I’ve always done in my life. You can’t describe that feeling.”
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, dropped a 2-1 contest in the series opener with the Seattle Mariners.
