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Bautista isn’t anonymous anymore

3 min read

True story: Five years ago, an hour after the All-Star Home Run Derby ended at PNC Park, I walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge from the North Shore to Downtown with then-Pirates third baseman Jose Bautista, his younger brother and a friend of theirs.

Not one person noticed Bautista, though baseball fever gripped the city of Pittsburgh that night for one of the few times in the past two decades after Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard peppered the Allegheny River with long drives.

?When the 83rd All-Star Game is played Tuesday night at Chase Field in Phoenix, Bautista won’t be anonymous. Now with Toronto, Bautista will be playing in his second Midsummer Classic and starting for the first time as an outfielder for the American League.

Most impressively, Bautista broke Ken Griffey Jr.’s 17-year old record for votes received as he was named on over 7½ million ballots. Amazing stuff for a player who was traded by the Pirates to the Blue Jays for minor-league catcher Robinzon Diaz nearly three years ago.

“It just floored me when I learned I got that many votes,” Bautista said. “That’s a lot of people voting for me in the Dominican Republic (his native land), Canada and the United States. I always felt I could be a good player but I never expected this. Never.”

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This week’s Name to Remember is Class AAA Indianapolis first baseman Matt Hague, who will play in the Triple-A All-Star Game on Wednesday night at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Hague, 25, is quietly gaining prospect status in his fourth professional season as he came into the weekend hitting .324 with eight home runs, 47 RBIs, a .380 on-base percentage and a .482 slugging percentage in 88 games. He is also considered an outstanding defensive first baseman with soft hands and a strong arm.

Hague was the Pirates’ ninth-round draft pick in 2008 from the University of Washington. He began his professional career as a third baseman before being moved across the diamond.

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Andrew McCutchen was undoubtedly snubbed when he was not only left off the National League All-Star team, but inexplicably omitted by the Major League Baseball from its five-man NL ballot in the Final Vote promotion.

The silver lining, though, was how well the Pirates center fielder handled the disappointment, especially for a 24-year-old.

“The way I look at it is the more your team wins the better your chances or of winning individual awards becomes,” McCutchen said. “We’re winning ballgames and that’s the most important thing. If we keep winning then everyone is going to notice the Pittsburgh Pirates and the various players on our team.”

John Perrotto is the national writer for BaseballProspectus.com

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