Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista needs just one home run to take sole possession of fifth place on the all-time franchise homers list. With 179 dingers in a Jays uniform, Joey Bats is presently tied with Jesse Barfield in the No. 5 spot.
As a franchise that was founded in 1977, the Blue Jays unsurprisingly have modest totals atop the career leaderboards in many categories, including home runs. Carlos Delgado tops the homers list with 336, while Vernon Wells comes in second with just 223. Third-place Joe Carter (203) and fourth-place George Bell (202) may both be surpassed by Bautista before the end of the season.
More impressive than the raw number of home runs he's hit is the fact that Bautista needed just 698 games in a Jays uniform to match Barfield in fifth place. Barfield, a respected slugger in his own right, played 1,031 games for Toronto. He hit one dinger for every 5.77 games spent in a Blue Jays uniform, while Bautista has thus far gone yard once every 3.91 games.
Barring a trade or catastrophic injury, Bautista should eventually climb to at least No. 2 on the franchise dingers list. Currently trailing second-place Wells by just 44 home runs, Bautista would need 172 more games to match the former Jays outfielder, if he maintains his pace of one every 3.91 contests.
Maintaining such an impressive pace is a lot to ask from any player, but with 11 homers and a .294 batting average through 45 games, Joey Bats looks as dangerous as ever.
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