National Post

Reyes’ return creates batting-order dilemma

Gibbons sticking with Bautista in no. 2 slot

- By John Lott National Post jlott@nationalpo­st.com twitter.com/LottOnBase­ball

BOSTON • On May 11, John Gibbons decided on a simple solution to his fruitless search for a leadoff hitter. He would move his second, third, fourth and fifth hitters up a notch.

With Jose Reyes hurt, Melky Cabrera became the leadoff man. Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacio­n and Adam Lind batted in the 2-34 slots.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ record at the time was 14-24. Since then, their log was 2515 entering Friday night’s game. Many factors figured into that success, but understand­ably, Gibbons was disincline­d to tamper with the top of his batting order.

The most unorthodox component of Gibbons’ strategy was moving Bautista into the second slot. Initially, Bautista prospered, batting .400 with a 1.199 OPS in his first 17 games after the switch. In 24 games since then, however, he has batted .167 with a .548 OPS.

With Reyes back from a long injury layoff and Cabrera newly arrived on the disabled list, Gibbons was asked Friday whether he had considered moving Bautista back to the No. 3 spot, where he had batted since the middle of 2010.

Gibbons replied that he likes having both of his sluggers come up in the first inning. Told that Bautista had said he expected to move back to the third spot when Reyes returned, the manager said: “I didn’t hear one complaint. I figured if he doesn’t like it enough, he’d probably come to me.”

In a recent interview with Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.com, Bautista indicated he looked for ward to batting third again when Reyes returned.

“Melky has done a good job adjusting [to the leadoff role], but the lineup will go back to what it was at the beginning of the season,” Bautista said then.

Bautista is a streaky hitter. He was batting .224 before the move, but hit .337 with a .994 OPS in the month of May, then slumped in June. Entering Friday’s action, he was batting .179 with a .587 OPS this month.

“He hasn’t been on a roll but he’s still gotten some big hits along the way,” Gibbons said. “But everybody’s used to seeing all the home runs and all the doubles, driving in a lot of runs.

“But he’s like everybody else. You’re going to cool off. You’re going to go through those stretches where you’re struggling.”

For the season, Bautista was batting .245 with 16 homers, 44 RBIs and an .815 OPS before Friday’s game.

Encarnacio­n has enjoyed his time in the three spot. He was batting .223 when he moved up from the cleanup slot. In 41 games since then, he has batted .305 with 12 homers, 39 RBIs and an OPS of .989.

Cabrera, who has been hobbled by sore legs all season, landed on the 15-day disabled list Friday with tendinitis in his left knee. The Jays were awaiting MRI results, but Gibbons said he thought Cabrera would be ready to return in two weeks.

Munenori Kawasaki was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo. He will get an occasional start at second base, Gibbons said. Rajai Davis is expected to take Cabrera’s spot in left field on most nights.

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