As the season drew to a close, the Blue Jays made changes to their coaching staff. One was to move first base coach Dwayne Murphy to replace the retiring Gene Tenace as hitting coach. Formerly a Blue Jays' minor league roving hitting instructor and hitting coach, Murphy had already spent nearly one year working with Bautista, teaching him to leverage his pull power by starting his swing with his now-familiar high leg kick. In September, he finally broke through, hitting 10 home runs with 21 RBI, a .257 batting average and a .606 slugging percentage (SLG). He hit 13 total HR in 2009 with 40 RBI, a batting average of .235, and 79 hits in 113 games. Originally considered to be a non-tender candidate, he re-signed with the Blue Jays on a one-year, $2.4 million US contract for the 2010 season.