José Bautista (pitcher)

Baseball career

Bautista signed with the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in April 1981. In 1984 he posted a 13–4 record with a 3.13 ERA for Columbia in the South Atlantic League, and the following year went 15–8 with a 2.34 ERA for Lynchburg in the Carolina League. After seven years in the Mets system, the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the December 1987 Rule 5 draft. He joined the Orioles rotation in 1988, spending four years there before moving to the Chicago Cubs (1993–94), San Francisco Giants (1995–96), Detroit Tigers (1997), and St. Louis Cardinals (1997).

As a rookie he went 6–15 with 76 strikeouts and a 4.30 ERA in 1712/3 innings, including 25 starts and three complete games; that was his best season as an Oriole. On September 30, 1988, he threw 70 pitches in a 1-0 Orioles loss to the Seattle Mariners, setting the MLB record for fewest pitches in a complete game of 8 innings or more. Resurfacing as a relief pitcher with the Cubs in 1993, he went 10–3 with a 2.82 ERA and 1112/3 innings in 58 appearances (7 as a starter), holding batters to a .193 average in late-and-close games; that was his best Major League season.

After going 4–5 for Chicago in 1994 while pitching in 58 games (second in the league), he pitched with San Francisco the next two years and spent 1997 with Detroit and St. Louis in his last Major League season. In a nine-season career, Bautista posted a 32–42 record with 328 strikeouts and a 4.04 ERA in 312 games, including three saves, 49 starts, 4 complete games and 6852/3 innings pitched. Through 2010, he was fifth all-time in career games pitched (312; directly behind Steve Stone) among Jewish major league baseball players.

Coaching career

José Bautista spent several seasons as a pitching coach in the minor leagues, including stints with the Burlington Bees, Idaho Falls Chukars, and Burlington Royals. He later managed the Great Falls Voyagers and served as a roving instructor for Latin American players in the White Sox system. In 2011, he was the pitching coach for the Kannapolis Intimidators. More recently, he worked as the pitching coach for the Kamloops NorthPaws in 2022 and 2023, before being named head coach for the 2024 season.