David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox
David Ortiz is a sensation and has been cited as the reason the curse is reversed. He’s the guy that gets the hit that the Red Sox could never pull off in years past. Yet he is with his third team, was regarded as a bad signing when he showed up becuase we “already had Jeremy Giambi,” and barely played in the first half season here in 2003. So what gives? Where did he come from? And what the hell is a Big Papi anyway?
Well, let’s start with that. Papi is actually a word used to refer to someone in a friendly way in the Dominican - similar to how we say ‘dude’ or ‘buddy’ in the United States. Ortiz can never remember anyone’s name and calls everyone Papi. This led his teammates to call him Papi, and since he is even bigger than Shrek, Big Papi. Once he started walking off the field with home runs to win games in 2005, the name was used in the media and the nickname has simply stuck. It has nothing to do with the Biggie song even though it is similar (They call me Big Poppa, etc.)
But before he was Big Papi, he was just David Américo Ortiz Arias, a kid playing baseball on fields all over the Dominican. He is currently 31, born on November 18, 1975. He signed his first contract with the Mariners on November 18, 1992. In 1996, the Mariners traded for Dave Hollins from the Twins for a player to be named later, which ended up being Ortiz. Hollins hit .242 for the Twins that year and wasn’t resigned, and ended his career with a .262 average.
The Twins called Ortiz up in 1997 for 15 games, but never had 400 at bats in a season until 2000. That year he hit .282 with 10 home runs, but really fell off the next year (2001) at .238. His power numbers were up in 2001, however, hitting 18 home runs in just 303 at bats. But, becuase his average was down, the Twins management wanted him to focus more on driving the ball to the opposite field and hitting line drive singles instead of being the pull-power hitter we know today. That caused them to give up on Ortiz, since they had Doug Mientkiewicz at first and Justin Morneu in the minors.
The Red Sox took a chance on him, signing him in 2003 even though they too had 2 first baseman (Shea Hillenbrand and of course, Jeremy Giambi). He finally got his chance to play every day when Hillenbrand was dealt for Byung Yun Kim, and the rest is essentially history.
Ortiz today is the rare occurance of a guy with excellent plate discipline, a great eye, AND power numbers. Most home run hitters strike out a lot, but as a Red Sox, Ortiz has averaged an acceptable 120 per year (guys like Soriano, Andruw Jones and Adam Dunn are more like 150-180 range).
His batting stance is nearly perfect, always balanced and very fluid. This is why he is always able to foul off so many balls. He isn’t pulling his head out or overextending his arms when he puts a good swing on, and with the ability to pull the ball so well, is very tough to pitch inside. He still has the skills to hit to the opposite field as well, though typically in the line drive manner that he learned in Minnesota (which is why the shift works so well). He uses the wall on occasion, but of course, the real pleasure is watching him take an inside or middle of the plate fastball and drive it 450 feet. They way he explodes out of the crouch is what really gives him the power, though of course, his size helps a lot too. He’s very powerful and is a pleasure to watch in general.
And we all know that he is Mr. Clutch, much in the same way that ARod is Mr. April (had to throw a shot in there of course!). He has been the hero more often than not and is locked up for years to come with the Red Sox.
Let me be the latest to say that David Ortiz is the man, and the Sox wouldn’t be close to where they are today without him. Thanks for giving up on your giant singles hitter Minnesota, and we look forward to beating you time and time again!
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