Jose Bautista Has Hip Examined in New York

Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

With the Toronto Blue Jays in Arizona for a series against the Diamondbacks, Jose Bautista flew to New York on Monday in order to have his left hip evaluated. He’s been sidelined since August 21st with a bone bruise. Toronto is remaining optimistic that Bautista will be able to return to the lineup before the season ends, according to MLB.com’s Tyler Emerick, but the time table for his return is dependent on him being cleared by doctors first.

Once cleared, Bautista will still need to resume baseball activities before he’ll make his way back into the lineup. Team officials are hoping for an update on his status by mid-week.

"“They’ll look at it and check out his progress,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “He’s feeling better, though.”"

Bautista had hit .259/.358/.498 in 528 PA on the year before landing on the DL, adding 28 HR and 24 2B. It’s been his fourth consecutive season of 25+ home runs and 65+ RBI. It also marked his fourth consecutive All Star appearance. He’d been enjoying yet another solid season at the plate overall, despite a dip in his walk totals, but hadn’t made a significant difference in the Blue Jays disappointing 2013 season. Bautista remains under team control for at least the next two seasons (there’s a team option for a third) so it’s likely that Toronto will want to ensure that he’ll be healthy moving forward considering they have little left to play for this month.