BAUTISTA TAKING SOME SPRING SWINGS FROM THE LEFT SIDE IN PRACTICE

DUNE DIN• Jose Bautista never misses an opportunity to make himself a better player. In that vein, he’s taken to hitting from the left side during some rounds of batting practice.

No, you’re not going to see him switch- hitting in a major- league game any time soon. He already rakes against right- handed pitching just fine from the right side, with a career .856 OPS against righties.

The reason is that he is all about balancing his finely-tuned body.

“First of all, it’s fun,” he said of his attempts from the left side. “It evens out my body a little bit, work on rotating in the other direction, unwinding my body. Tension builds up if you just move in one direction.

“It happens to everybody, even people sitting at a desk with a keyboard. If you reach with your left hand all the time, your left side will be different than your right side. Our brain is programmed to be the most effective it can be and if you just go in one direction, it figures out a way to be the most effective in that direction and forgets about the other side.

“I’m just trying to keep myself more balanced.”

When he first started doing it a couple of years ago, just for fun, Bautista could hardly make contact. It was as awkward as you might expect. But now he’s actually hitting the odd home run from the left side.