Jose Bautista's success in emerging as one of the game's top power hitters might be one of the biggest “Where the hell did this come from?” stories in Baseball.

Bautista was barely even a journeyman, playing briefly for Baltimore, Tampa Bay. and Kansas City before having a respectable season in 2007 as a Pittsburgh Pirate. The Blue Jays traded for him during the 2008 Season, and Bautista began 2009 as the fourth Outfielder. He worked all year with Toronto's hitting coach, Dwayne Murphy, who helped him work on his stance and leg kick. It yielded a coming out part in 2010 that blew everyone away.

After a previous high of 15 Home Runs, Bautista won the Home Run Title with 54. He also had 124 RBI, which would become his personal best. Bautista won the Silver Slugger that year and was fourth in MVP voting. Some in the baseball media thought he had to be a one-year wonder. He wasn't. Bautista won his second straight Home Run Title (43), and he led the AL in Walks (132), Slugging (.608), and OPS (1.056). He added a second Silver Slugger, and this year was third in MVP voting.

Bautista missed quite a few games due to injury in 2012 and 2013, though he still had at least 27 Home Runs in both seasons. Fully healthy in 2014, Bautista won his third Silver Slugger on a 35 HR/103 RBI campaign, blasted 40 taters in 2015, and helped lead the Blue Jays to the playoffs. In the deciding game in the ALDS against Texas, Bautista hit the game-winning Home Run and delivered after the most famous bat flip in Canada. Toronto did not win the Pennant that year, but Bautista's moment will be forever etched in Blue Jays fans.

Age caught up to Bautista after, and so did a bit of karma, in terms of a punch to the face by Texas's Rougned Odor. He was not resigned after 2017, leaving the Jays with 1,103 Hits and 288 Home Runs.  Bautista was inducted into the Jays Level of Excellence in 2023.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2022 revision of our top Detroit Tigers.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Detroit had another rough year an failed to make the playoffs, and they had no new entrants on our top 50 list, but one impactful elevation.

As always, we present our top five, which has the only change, with a new number five.

1. Ty Cobb

2. Al Kaline                            

3. Hal Newhouser

4. Charlie Gehringer

5. Miguel Cabrera

You can find the entire list here.

As mentioned earlier, Cabrera enters the top five, though at this stage of his career, advancing any higher might prove difficult.

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

We considered making this a 1 and 1A situation with Roy Halladay and Dave Stieb, but that just isn't our style, so Halladay missed out as the greatest Blue Jay, despite the Cooperstown plaque and the Cy Young.

A First Round Pick in 1995, Halladay first made the Blue Jays in 1998, but as hard as he threw, his effectiveness wasn't there, and he was bouncing back and forth between the Majors and Minors until 2002.  Once Halladay figured it all out, he became one of the best hurlers in Baseball.

"Doc" led the American League in Innings Pitched in '02, going 19-7 and making his first trip to the All-Star Game.  Halladay was even better in 2003, leading the AL in Wins (22) against only 7 Losses while also topping the league in Innings (266), SO/BB (6.38).  He won the Cy Young, making him the first Blue Jay to win that award.  

Halladay had shoulder issues through much of the next two seasons, reducing his mound time, but he was healthy in 2006, reclaiming his spot as an American League elite.  From 2006 to 2009, Halladay went 69-33, went to three All-Star Games, won a WHIP Title (2008), and was in the top five in Cy Young voting in all of those seasons, with one of those years (2008) as the runner-up.  Halladay was phenomenal, but the team around him wasn't, and he never tasted the postseason in Toronto.  He asked to be traded, and he was, with a post-2009 deal sending Halladay to Philadelphia, where he won his second Cy Young.

Halladay died tragically when the plane he piloted crashed in 2017.  The Blue Jays retired his number 34 the year after, and in 2019, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot.  Halladay went 148-76 with 1,495 Strikeouts with Toronto and was also named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and is part of the Jays Level of Excellence.

Dave Stieb barely beat out Roy Halladay for the top spot on this list, and it does fit to have Stieb at number one, as he was arguably the first real star of the franchise.

Stieb made his first appearance for the Jays in 1979 and was their ace a year later, going to his first of seven All-Star Games.  In the first half of the 80s, Toronto was dealing with the typical issues of an expansion team, and it likely cost Stieb a 20-win season, as it is conceivable that on a better team, his back-to-back 17 Win years (1982 & 1983) could have hit 20.  

While Stieb was generating press in Canada, many American fans were unaware of his skills.  A power pitcher, Stieb was also known for his volatility and intense competitiveness, which did not always make him a clubhouse favorite, but a man that his teammates wanted on their side.  Stieb never won a Cy Young, but in 1982, The Sporting News named him the American League Pitcher of the Year.

Stieb would later win the ERA Title in 1985 and anchor the team to their first postseason.  He remained one of the top hurlers in the AL for the rest of the decade, and when the 80s ended, only Jack Morris had more Wins.   

Stieb received a ring, and though that year's contributions were minimal, Toronto was built on his arm.  Back issues held Stieb to minimal starts in the early 90s, and Toronto had to create a contender without him, which they did, winning the World Series in 1992.  Stieb signed with the White Sox after the season, though he retired a year after.  He attempted a comeback in 1998 with Toronto but retired shortly after.

Stieb is, as of this writing, the all-time franchise leader in bWAR for Pitchers (56.9), Wins (175), and Strikeouts (1,656).  He is also a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, and is enshrined in the Jays Level of Excellence.