Bautista's Bomb off Masterson

Jose Bautista started the 2012 season where he left off last year by taking a Justin Masterson slider over the left field wall for a solo home run yesterday.

Masterson made the mistake of hanging the pitch high in the zone, an area Bautista has done quite well in.

Jose Bautista vs. Sliders, 2011-2012You can see that Bautista did very well against sliders up in the zone last year.  Ten of his 43 HRs came off sliders, although only one of those was up in the zone.  His .456 wOBA against sliders actually led the league last year, so pitchers would do well to avoid throwing it against him altogether.