While other players were prepping for this season at spring training http://www.jaguarsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jawaan-taylor-jersey , Jose Bautista was on his own.

So to stay in game shape, the 37-year-old slugger spent his days back home in Florida hopping from gym workouts to local ballfields.

Sometimes he ended up at the University of Tampa, or Tampa Catholic High School. Wherever he could find an empty diamond to hit and do defensive drills.

”I was trying to mimic somewhat the same program,” said Bautista, who has quickly become a rare bright spot for the New York Mets this year. ”I mean, it wasn’t the easiest thing.”

His agent helped him scrounge up batting-practice pitchers to simulate game situations as best they could. High school kids, college players, other free agents looking for work.

Bautista figures he got about 30 ”at-bats” or so in April, when the regular season was already underway for everyone else. All the while, the former Toronto Blue Jays star waited for a new opportunity.

”Yeah, different fields. Whatever was available and whatever people could get to,” he said.

Not exactly an ideal way to sharpen up for Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw. But after struggling through a 12-game stint with the Atlanta Braves in May, mostly at third base, Joey Bats has hardly missed a beat since arriving in New York. He had a .944 OPS over 35 games going into Sunday and had already batted in every spot for the Mets besides ninth.

”He never backed off,” teammate and close friend Jose Reyes said last week. ”He always was working.”

Next up, a nice reward.

On deck this week is the first trip for Bautista back to Toronto, where he blossomed into one of baseball’s best power hitters with the Blue Jays from 2008-17. The struggling Mets play interleague games at Rogers Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Needless to say, he’s excited.

”I’m trying not to think about it,” Bautista said last week. ”I’m trying not to dwell on it too much.”

”Obviously, I played there for 10 years. I consider it one of my homes away from home,” he added. ”I’m just going to let it come and enjoy it when it gets here.”

Reyes, also Bautista’s teammate in Toronto from 2013-15, said last week the outfielder had been staying at his house in New York for the past few days and the two talked about the upcoming games in Toronto.

Reyes figures the Blue Jays might have a video tribute planned Josh Oliver Jersey , but he’s sure Bautista will receive a standing ovation after helping the team end a 22-year playoff drought and reach consecutive AL Championship Series in 2015 and 2016.

Bautista, still sporting a neatly trimmed beard, acknowledged he anticipates a warm reception.

”I don’t expect anything else from Canadian fans. They’re top-notch, a class act,” he said. ”We had a pretty good run there and I had a successful career in my years there. … I did enjoy my time in Toronto greatly and it’s going to be great to be back.”

Bautista hit 54 home runs for the Blue Jays in 2010 and led the majors again with 43 the following season. He finished in the top four in AL MVP voting both years.

And of course, who could ever forget his gigantic bat flip after connecting for a decisive homer in the 2015 playoffs against Texas?

As he approached free agency, Bautista’s numbers dropped off in 2016. Toronto brought him back on a one-year contract for $18 million last season, but he slumped to a .203 batting average with 23 homers, 65 RBIs and 170 strikeouts, and the Blue Jays moved on.

”As a player, we understand that this is a business,” Reyes said. ”He wanted to stay there, but I don’t know. When you build that fan base and the people love you and stuff and you (are) successful in one place, you don’t want to go someplace else. But it comes a time in baseball. It just happens. Yeah, he understands that.”

Two days after he was released by Atlanta, the Mets signed Bautista on May 22 for the $545,000 major league minimum to provide a right-handed bat in the outfield following injuries to Yoenis Cespedes and Juan Lagares.

Bautista stepped off a plane and right into the starting lineup, hitting a double in his first at-bat, just as he did with the Braves. This time, though, he hasn’t stopped producing even though everything around him keeps falling apart.

With the help of 24 walks in 105 plate appearances, Bautista began Sunday with a .438 on-base percentage for the last-place Mets. He’d reached base safely in 15 straight games and even played some solid defense.

”It’s definitely impressive and we are in awe of him,” 25-year-old outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. ”He’s a great veteran presence. He’s got a lot of wisdom, knowledge and understanding of the game. … I think just that preparation http://www.jaguarsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-quincy-williams-ii-jersey , that work ethic and that eagle eye he’s got, it’s been a great combination.”

Now playing every day in a familiar corner outfield spot after right fielder Jay Bruce went on the disabled list, too, Bautista began Sunday hitting .266 for the Mets with three homers, 10 doubles and 13 RBIs.

”A dangerous wild card,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said before a game against New York last week. ”A man that wanted to play, felt he could play and was going to do what it took necessary to put himself in a position to play. He stayed active, he stayed ready, his agent reached out to every club. I mean, we got a call. That hey, ATLANTA (AP) — It may seem as though Aqib Talib says “goodbye” as often as the flight attendant standing at the front of the plane. And yet, he keeps resurfacing on good teams — and at the Super Bowl.The colorful cornerback brought his necklaces, his personality and, yes, even defensive coordinator Wade Phillips back to the big game — this time with the Rams.This trip comes three years after the 32-year-old won it all with the Broncos, which is where he landed after coming oh-so close to making the title game during his brief stay in New England.“You kind of know, in this business, you fall in love with organizations just like that, and then, you can be gone just like that,” Talib said.Even in a world of ever-increasing roster turnover, it feels unusual to see a player who has enjoyed this much success change uniforms so often. On his fourth team in the past seven seasons, Talib has been voted to the Pro Bowl five times and named once each to the AP All-Pro first and second teams. All those honors have come later in his career — since he left Tampa Bay, the team that used the 20th pick to draft him in 2008.But there have been problems along the way.The Bucs dealt him to New England for a fourth-round pick in 2012 Ryquell Armstead Jersey , only weeks after the NFL suspended him for using the banned substance, Adderall. That was the last in a number of incidents in Tampa — a fistfight with a teammate; accusations of beating up a taxi driver ; charges, later dropped, of shooting a gun at his sister’s boyfriend.He showed little interest in talking about any of it this week: “That old, bro.” Asked about his leadership skills, which have been praised repeatedly, both this week and during his season with the Rams, Talib said nothing much has changed over the years.“I don’t really know about what skill. I just go be myself,” he said. “Myself was the same eight years ago, 10 years ago, in college … in high school.”Though it wasn’t pretty on his way out of Tampa, the trade to New England sparked the blossoming of his career.“Probably more professional, more alarms set in the morning,” Talib said, when asked what spending a year-plus with the Patriots met to his career. “Never late. Zero tardies. You learn that stuff going through New England.”In a bizarro-world turn of events, Talib’s last game with the Patriots ended when Denver’s diminutive receiver Wes Welker, of all people, knocked him out of the game while throwing a vicious block as Talib came across the middle in the 2014 AFC title game. Denver won 26-16.And then, only a few months later, and after having been humbled in the Super Bowl by Seattle, the Broncos signed Talib to a six-year, $57 million contract that made him legitimately rich for the first time.Talib spent four of those six seasons in Denver, but there were issues there, too.He got suspended twice — once for poking the eye of a Colts tight end http://www.jaguarsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-gardner-minshew-ii-jersey , then again in the aftermath of a rather comical exchange in which he tore the chain off the neck of his nemesis, receiver Michael Crabtree, leading to a full-on brawl between the two the next season.More seriously, Talib accidentally shot himself in the leg in a nightclub incident in Dallas during the 2016 offseason.As his tenure wore down in Denver, the Broncos’ “No Fly Zone” defense sunk quickly from its heights of winning the Super Bowl in the 2015 season.The Broncos, in need of a new quarterback and with high-paid cornerbacks stacking up on the roster, were in the market to deal Talib last offseason. Talib wanted a reunion with Belichick in New England or with Phillips, who had gone from Denver to LA; the Broncos traded him out of the conference.No offense taken, Talib insisted.“It’s our business,” he said. “They had three corners making big money, they needed a quarterback. Something’s gotta give. I ain’t mad, though. John (Elway) threw the oop, I dunked it.”And wound up in LA, which has brought him back to the Super Bowl.The week, and the season, has been a lovefest between the unlikeliest of reunited couples: Talib and the 71-year-old “Son of Bum,” Phillips.“He’s such a big personality guy that everybody likes him,” Phillips said. “And he’s a leader also. Coaching the defense, and the leader of the defense, you connect with a guy like that anyway.”Along with Marcus Peters, who the Rams also acquired in a trade this offseason, LA is one of the few teams in the league with a pair of All-Pro cornerbacks.The matchups between the LA corners against Patriots pass catchers Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan figure to go a long way toward deciding if Talib walks away Sunday with his second ring in four seasons.