Jose Bautista hit three more homers Sunday

Jose Bautista hit three more homers Sunday

He has now hit 13 homers in his last 19 games.

Excluding those players suspected of steroid use, I can't think of a single example of a player who has improved in two years time as much as Bautista has done.

Here's what he did in 2006-2009 (batting avg - homers - ops -slugging)

2006 .235 16 .755 .420

2007 .254 15 .753 .414

2008 .238 15 .718 .405

2009 .235 13 .757 .418

Obviously, he had a clearly established level of performance: about .240, 15 homers, .750 OPS, .410 slugging, all of that established over a period of several seasons which were virtually identical. We seemed to know the precise parameters of his talent.

Then last year he clubbed 54 homers to go with 38 doubles and triples, although his batting average was still low.

But that was only the tip of the iceberg. This year he is on pace to hit more than 60 homers, and he's also leading the league in batting average.

Mystifyin', and just about unprecedented.