Add Joey Bats to the list of sluggers swinging Marucci.
Bautista went from a fringe Major Leaguer to a prolific power hitter overnight. Bautista says it was a change in his swing after coming from Pittsburgh to Toronto that turned him into one of the most feared hitters in the game. That tweak in his swing led Jose to the MLB home run crown for the second straight year (in 2010, his 54 HRs were 12 more than the next closest hitter, Pujols, the only other guy to hit 40+).
The advice was to “start slower and sooner.” Here are the results:
Bautista even showed he could hit for average in 2011, batting .302, while leading the league in slugging. Not surprisingly, Joey Bats swings a Marucci JB19 maple bat, which is available online.
Bautista seems to have switched over from New Balance to Reebok this spring, as he is wearing the same cleats as David Ortiz, the Reebok Pro Cooperstown in blue/white. However, we know he signed a deal last year with New Balance and wore their 1103 cleats in 2011. The colorway in the feature picture ISN’T the pair we saw him wearing at the end of the year, despite the fact that they are customized for him. His were black and white with blue accents, which we could not find online. We’ll keep you posted on whether he actually is making the switch to Reebok in the regular season or if it was just a trial run and he’s sticking with New Balance.
Jose Bautista is the first guy we’ve seen wearing Marucci batting gloves, which we first noticed in spring training this year. He is wearing the exact style you see in the feature picture, and those are available online Last year he kept it simple with Franklin Pro Classic batting gloves (below), which seem to have been discontinued for the Neo Classic Pro.
Since Bautista’s equipment varied so much from last year to this spring, we will be sure to update once we see him in the regular season. In the meantime, here are the links:
Marucci Team Professional Batting Gloves (Bautista’s are white on white)
New Balance 1103 Cleats (last years cleats, though we can’t find his colorway)
Reebok Pro Cooperstown Cleats (this spring’s cleats–the blue colorway Bautista wears also nowhere to be found)
Follow us @whatproswear for instant updates.
Up Next: Bautista in the field!
