BAUTISTA Jose

General
CLUB HISTORY
He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 20th round, 599th overall pick, of the 2000 MLB draft. In late 2003 he joined the Baltimore Orioles and made his MLB debut in April the following year. He would also play for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kansas City Royals and finally the Pirates that season. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays in 2008 and spent ten seasons with the team before featuring for the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in 2018. (baseball-reference.com, 29 Oct 2018)

MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES
He moved to the United States of America from the Dominican Republic in 1999 with the help of the Latin Athletes Education Fund, and began studying for an associate's degree at Chipola College in Marianna, Florida, before being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. "In the Dominican, I'd pretty much come to the end of the line. I could keep playing ball as a hobby, but my prospects of becoming a professional baseball player were coming to an end. I was getting a little too old for the local market and I needed to focus on school." In 2015 he launched the Bautista Family Education Fund, after the founder of the Latin Athletes Education Fund, Don Odermann, became ill. "I felt like it was my duty to do for other kids what he did for me. I was at a point in my career where I was looking toward creating my own charitable endeavours, and when I found out his foundation wasn't going to continue, initially I considered just taking it over. I got legal recommendations suggesting I not do that, but just start fresh. That's when I decided to start my own foundation." (si.com, 10 Feb 2015)