Bautista frustrated after another 'freak accident'
Jose Bautista is back on the disabled list thanks to a "freak accident" Tuesday which caused the Toronto Blue Jays outfielder to sprain his left knee.
Bautista's cleat caught in the turf at Rogers Centre during a throwing attempt in right field, sending him tumbling to the ground and leaving the slugger frustrated with the nature of how the injury occurred.
"My cleat got caught in the turf, my knee got a little jerked there and I landed on it, too. I can’t really tell if it was when my cleat got caught or when I landed on it," Bautista explained to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. "It’s extremely frustrating, especially after an offseason that a lot of hard work went into, getting my body ready and hopefully avoiding these types of situations, and then having it happen on two freak accidents, it’s pretty disappointing."
It's the second time this season a weird play has been the cause of a Bautista injury, following several weeks through June and July on the DL with turf toe after slamming his foot into the outfield wall.
The 35-year-old is only expected to miss the minimum 15 days, but losing a player of his caliber comes at an awful time for the Blue Jays, who are battling for top spot in the American League East with the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox.
"Obviously when you lose one of the best players in the game, that’s a tough blow to a team," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. "It’s a resilient team, a group that already has been through some tough spots, so we’ll just focus on how we can get better each day."
In Bautista's absence - and with Kevin Pillar also on the DL - the Blue Jays will rely on recent call-ups Darrell Ceciliani and Junior Lake to shoulder the load alongside Melvin Upton Jr. and Michael Saunders in the outfield, unless Toronto decides to make another move.
"There’s a balance of what the acquisition cost will be," said Atkins, "but also feel good about the alternatives with (Ezequiel Carrera) coming off the DL, Darrell Ceciliani here, obviously Junior Lake, Dalton Pompey, feel really good about our depth in that area. But you can’t replace Jose Bautista."
Bautista is hitting .222/.349/.444 with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs.