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  • Tony Batista

    Birth Date: 12/08/1973

    Tony Batista Autograph

    Tony Batista's Autograph

    Tony Batista Bio

    Twins Video

    Leocadio Francisco Batista Hernandez was born on December 9, 1973 in the Dominican Republic.

    He was signed by the Oakland Athletics as an amateur free agent in 1991, making his Major League debut for them in 1996. Over the next decade, Batista would establish himself as a great power hitting infielder. He had four seasons with at least 30 home runs and three seasons with at least 100 RBI. This included career highs of 41 homers and 114 RBI for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2000.

    After hitting 31 homers and driving in 100 runs for the Montreal Expos in 2004, Batista had several offers in free agency from Major League clubs. So it came as a shock when he inked a two year, $15 million deal with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League. There was also a $5 million signing bonus, and he instantly became one of the highest paid players in Japan. But his time overseas didn't go that well. While his statistics were solid, Batista was dubbed "Mr. Nonchalant" by a local beat writer and he was not well received by fans or teammates. His contract was bought out, and he returned to the United States on a one year deal with the Minnesota Twins.

    His time with the Twins got off to a great start. Batista homered on Opening Day against Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay. He went deep again a few days later in the Twins home opener, and had a pretty strong month of April. But that was as good as it got, and Batista was released in mid-June after he began to struggle. He played for the Washington Nationals in 2007, which was his final season in the Majors.

    Off the field, Batista was both charitable and religious. He often gave thousands of dollars to church donation baskets while on the road in churches he had never been to before. Batista was also known to frequently make himself available for autographs, often times holding up team bus departures because he was still outside signing for fans.

    tonyb.jpg

    Notable Events & Trivia

    • Tony Batista was a two time All-Star (2000, 2002)
    • Tony Batista finished seventh in the 1996 AL Rookie of the Year Voting

    Tony Batista Statistics

    Standard Batting Table
    Season Age Team Lg WAR G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ rOBA Rbat+ TB GIDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
    1996 22 OAK AL 1.3 74 260 238 38 71 10 2 6 25 7 3 19 49 .298 .350 .433 .783 96 .348 94 103 2 1 0 2 0 45H/6D ROY-7
    1997 23 OAK AL -0.4 68 207 188 22 38 10 1 4 18 2 2 14 31 .202 .265 .330 .594 57 .268 51 62 8 2 3 0 0 6/H54D  
    1998 24 ARI NL 2.7 106 318 293 46 80 16 1 18 41 1 1 18 52 .273 .318 .519 .836 116 .369 118 152 7 3 0 4 0 46H5  
    1999 25 2TM 2LG 4.0 142 573 519 77 144 30 1 31 100 4 0 38 96 .277 .330 .518 .848 112 .368 107 269 12 6 3 7 4 *6/H  
    1999 25 ARI NL 0.3 44 164 144 16 37 5 0 5 21 2 0 16 17 .257 .335 .396 .731 84 .322 72 57 1 2 0 2 3 6/H  
    1999 25 TOR AL 3.7 98 409 375 61 107 25 1 26 79 2 0 22 79 .285 .328 .565 .893 123 .386 120 212 11 4 3 5 1 6  
    2000 26 TOR AL 2.4 154 664 620 96 163 32 2 41 114 5 4 35 121 .263 .307 .519 .827 102 .359 100 322 15 6 0 3 1 *5 AS
    2001 27 2TM AL 2.1 156 622 579 70 138 27 6 25 87 5 2 32 113 .238 .280 .435 .715 87 .314 83 252 9 4 0 7 1 5D6/H  
    2001 27 TOR AL -0.1 72 291 271 29 56 11 1 13 45 0 1 13 66 .207 .251 .399 .649 67 .274 52 108 2 4 0 3 1 5  
    2001 27 BAL AL 2.2 84 331 308 41 82 16 5 12 42 5 1 19 47 .266 .305 .468 .773 105 .349 110 144 7 0 0 4 0 D56/H  
    2002 28 BAL AL 3.1 161 682 615 90 150 36 1 31 87 5 4 50 107 .244 .309 .457 .766 105 .330 101 281 13 11 0 6 9 *5/D AS
    2003 29 BAL AL -0.5 161 670 631 76 148 20 1 26 99 4 3 28 102 .235 .270 .393 .663 73 .294 70 248 20 5 0 6 4 *5/D  
    2004 30 MON NL -0.1 157 650 606 76 146 30 2 32 110 14 6 26 78 .241 .272 .455 .728 81 .316 75 276 14 4 4 10 4 *5/H  
                                                                     
    2006 32 MIN AL -0.6 50 195 178 24 42 12 0 5 21 0 1 15 27 .236 .303 .388 .690 79 .298 71 69 5 2 0 0 1 5  
    2007 33 WSN NL -0.2 80 118 101 10 26 3 0 2 16 0 0 12 14 .257 .347 .347 .694 86 .306 78 35 4 3 0 2 3 H3/5  
    11 Yrs 13.8 1309 4959 4568 625 1146 226 17 221 718 47 26 287 790 .251 .299 .453 .752 93 .329 89 2069 109 47 10 47 27 56H4D3  
    162 Game Avg 1.7 162 614 565 77 142 28 2 27 89 6 3 36 98 .251 .299 .453 .752 93 .329 89 256 13 6 1 6 3    
                                                               
    BAL (3 Yrs) 4.8 406 1683 1554 207 380 72 7 69 228 14 8 97 256 .245 .293 .433 .726 92 .319 90 673 40 16 0 16 13 *5D6/H  
    TOR (3 Yrs) 6.0 324 1364 1266 186 326 68 4 80 238 7 5 70 266 .258 .301 .507 .808 101 .349 96 642 28 14 3 11 3 56  
    MON (2 Yrs) -0.3 237 768 707 86 172 33 2 34 126 14 6 38 92 .243 .284 .440 .724 82 .314 75 311 18 7 4 12 7 5H3  
    ARI (2 Yrs) 2.9 150 482 437 62 117 21 1 23 62 3 1 34 69 .268 .324 .478 .802 105 .354 102 209 8 5 0 6 3 64H5  
    OAK (2 Yrs) 0.9 142 467 426 60 109 20 3 10 43 9 5 33 80 .256 .313 .387 .700 80 .313 76 165 10 3 3 2 0 645H/D  
    MIN (1 Yr) -0.6 50 195 178 24 42 12 0 5 21 0 1 15 27 .236 .303 .388 .690 79 .298 71 69 5 2 0 0 1 5  
                                                               
    AL (8 Yrs) 11.2 922 3709 3424 477 857 172 14 164 530 30 19 215 629 .250 .299 .452 .751 93 .328 90 1549 83 35 6 29 17 564DH  
    NL (4 Yrs) 2.6 387 1250 1144 148 289 54 3 57 188 17 7 72 161 .253 .299 .455 .754 91 .329 86 520 26 12 4 18 10 5H643  
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
    Generated 3/2/2025.

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    Tony Batista Images

    Page Creator:

    William Malone

    Other Contributors:

    Brock Beauchamp

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