Bautista Batting .396 for Blue Jays; Gallardo Fans 9 in 5 for Brewers

Players of the Day for Saturday, March 26, 2011

American League

Jose Bautista

One of the biggest surprises of the 2010 season was undeniably the home run power produced by the bat of Toronto's Jose Bautista, who led the AL in long balls with 54. Buatista was also 3rd in the AL with 124 RBI.

From the way Toronto's slugging 3rd baseman is stinging the ball this Spring, it appears that last season's exploits were no fluke, but rather the result of a change in stance and approach at the dish. In Saturday's 7-6 win over the Phillies, Bautista went 3-for-4, each of his hits a double, and drove in three runs as the Blue Jays amassed 13 hits.

Always one to get the most out of exhibition games, Bautista has 3 homers and 13 RBi over 17 games, along with a robust batting average of .396.

National League

Yovani Gallardo

It took ten innings for Milwaukee to finally push another run across the plate and knock off the Seattle Mariners, 2-1, but well before that, Seattle batters were baffled by the deliveries from Yovani Gallardo, who didn't get the win, but fanned nine Mariners over the first five innings.

Gallardo allowed just four hits and didn't allow a run and walked only one batter in his fnal tune-up prior to opening day.

In five starts this Spring, Gallardo went 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA and 23 Ks over 18 1-3 innings. The strikeout tally is nothing new for the righty. He punched out 204 batters in 2009 and another 200 in 2010.