Dominican baseball player (born 1993) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rafael Darwing Bautista Rodriguez (born March 8, 1993) is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals.
| Rafael Bautista | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Bautista with the Harrisburg Senators in 2016 | |
| Outfielder | |
| Born: March 8, 1993 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 30, 2017, for the Washington Nationals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 6, 2018, for the Washington Nationals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .129 |
| Home runs | 0 |
| Runs batted in | 0 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
Bautista signed with the Washington Nationals as an international free agent on January 9, 2012.[1] He began his professional career in 2012 with the rookie–level Dominican Summer League Nationals in the Dominican Summer League,[2] where he batted .329 with 25 runs batted in (RBI) and 47 stolen bases.[3] In 2013 he played in the rookie–level Gulf Coast League for the Gulf Coast League Nationals,[2] who that year finished their regular season with a record of 49–9, giving them the highest winning percentage (.845) for a full regular season ever achieved by a minor-league baseball team based in the United States.[4] The team then won all three of its playoff games, defeating the Gulf Coast League Pirates in a single-game semifinal playoff and sweeping the Gulf Coast League Red Sox in the best–of–three league championship series, to become the 2013 Gulf Coast League champions.[5][6] Bautista appeared in 52 games during the championship season, batting .322 with one home run, 27 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases.[2]
Bautista spent 2014 with the Single–A Hagerstown Suns in the South Atlantic League,[2] hitting .290 with five home runs, 54 RBIs, and 69 stolen bases.[3] He split 2015 between the High–A Potomac Nationals in the Carolina League, the Low–A Auburn Doubledays in the New York-Penn League, and the Gulf Coast League Nationals,[2] batting a combined .275 for the year with a home run, 14 RBI, and 26 stolen bases,[3] and over the 2015–2016 offseason played in the Dominican Winter League with Leones del Escogido.[2] Bautista advanced to the Double–A Harrisburg Senators in the Eastern League for the 2016 season,[2] hitting .282 with four home runs, 39 RBI, and 56 stolen bases. On November 18, 2016, the Nationals added Bautista to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.[7] He again played winter ball with Leones del Escogido during the 2016–2017 offseason.[2]
Bautista began the 2017 season with the Triple–A Syracuse Chiefs in the International League.[2] The Washington Nationals promoted him to the major leagues for the first time on April 29, 2017.[8] He made his major league debut on April 30 in a 23–5 Nationals victory over the New York Mets at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., batting twice and going 0-for-2 against Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki, who was making his first–ever major league appearance as a pitcher.[9] On May 6, in a 6–2 Nationals victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, he made his first career major–league start, playing right field, and got his first career major–league hit, a single through the infield off Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez.[10] The Nationals optioned Bautista back to Syracuse on May 8.[11]
The Nationals recalled Bautista on August 27,[12] but optioned him back to Syracuse the next day.[13] They called him back up again on September 7,[14] and he finished the regular season with the Nationals. He completed the season having played in 17 major–league games, batting .160 with four hits – all singles – in 25 at–bats, scoring two runs, and with a slugging percentage of .160 and an on-base percentage of .222.[15] In the minor leagues, Bautista played 43 games for Syracuse and 13 for the GCL Nationals during 2017.[3] He hit a combined .259 for the two teams, with 14 RBI and nine stolen bases.[3]
Bautista participated in 2018 major–league spring training before the Nationals optioned him to the Triple–A Syracuse Chiefs on March 14.[3] He was reassigned to the Double–A Harrisburg Senators on April 2[3] and began the season with them, but was promoted back to Syracuse on April 12.[3] He had made 45 plate appearances for Syracuse, batting .429 with a .966 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS)[16] when, on April 24, the Nationals called him up to the major leagues.[17] He appeared in nine games, usually as a late–game replacement or a pinch–runner, made one start, and went 0–for–6, striking out once and scoring a run[3][16] before the Nationals optioned him back to Syracuse on May 7 to make room on their 25–man roster when they activated right–handed relief pitcher Shawn Kelley from the 10–day disabled list.[18] Bautista made another 46 plate appearances for Syracuse, batting .300 with a .749 OPS,[16] before colliding with another player during a game against the Rochester Red Wings at Rochester, New York, on May 17, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament, lateral collateral ligament, and meniscus in his left knee.[16] The injury required season-ending surgery.[16] He ended his season with an overall .303 batting average in the minor leagues, with three doubles, a triple, a home run, seven RBI, and six stolen bases for the year.[3] On June 9, the Nationals released Bautista to make room for Adam Eaton on their roster when they activated Eaton from the 60–day disabled list.[19] On June 13, Washington re–signed Bautista to a minor league contract.[20]
In 2019, Bautista played for Double–A Harrisburg, Single–A Hagerstown, and Low–A Auburn, slashing .182/.256/.255 with two home runs and nine RBI across 29 games between the three affiliates. Bautista did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] On November 2, 2020, he elected free agency.[22]
On November 12, 2020, Bautista re–signed with the Nationals on a minor league contract.[23] Bautista was assigned to the Triple–A Rochester Red Wings to begin the 2021 season. He elected free agency on November 7, 2021.
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