OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) Jose Bautista has a new namesake buzzing around.
Entomologist Bob Anderson of the Canadian Museum of Nature has dubbed a newly discovered species of beetle Sicoderus bautistai after the former Toronto Blue Jays star.
Anderson decided to name the insect – known as a weevil for its long snout – after Bautista because of the bat-flip home run that propelled Toronto to the 2015 American League Championship Series.
”It was one of those moments in Toronto baseball sort of lore where he hit this big home run,” Anderson said Thursday. ”And I thought what a great way to kind of recognize his contributions to Blue Jay baseball and to Canadian baseball, really, as a whole.”
The 38-year-old Bautista played for Toronto from 2009 to 2017. He’s a free agent after splitting last season with the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies.
The Sicoderus bautistai is a tiny black weevil that is found in Bautista’s native Dominican Republic.
Anderson has named about 120 weevils over his career.
”One of the nice things about this is that you have some latitude to do something kind of quirky,” Anderson said. ”(Naming) sort of builds on a history and the names tell little stories.”
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