David Ortiz recently announced his plans to retire after completion of the 2016 season. His contract with the Red Sox includes two options for 2016 and 2017. So his retirement after next season will leave (at least) $10 million on the table. It’s not something you often see so he must really feel like it’s the right time. Finishing the 2016 season will round out his impressive career at an even 20 years.
Everyone will remember David Ortiz as a Red Sox great, but he actually began his career with the Seattle Mariners. They signed him as an amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic in 1992. Then in 1996 he was traded to the Minnesota Twins. He played his first six major league seasons with them and was…well he was actually kind of bad.
From 1997 through 2002 he played in 455 games, accumulating 1693 plate appearances. He hit a medicore .266/.348/.461 with a total of only 58 home runs. To put that in perspective, during that time his offense equated to a 106 wRC+, meaning he was just 6% better than league average. By FanGraphs’ metric, he was worth 2.2 WAR.
After the 2002 season, he would sign a one year contract with the Red Sox worth $1.25 million. He went on to hit .288/.369/.592 with 31 home runs. He was worth 3.1 fWAR that year, more value than he provided in the first six seasons of his career combined. The Red Sox would sign him again…and again…and again.
Once the 2016 season (and his career) is completed, David Ortiz will have spent 14 years in a Red Sox uniform. In those 13 seasons currently on record, he hit .288/.385/.566 with 445 home runs. He’s been worth a total 43.9 fWAR to the Sox. Over his entire career, he’s hit .284/.374/.547 with 503 home runs. That’s production that have led some to ask if he is Hall of Fame bound.
Most of the case surrounds his home run numbers and his postseason performance. He currently sits 27th all time with his 503 home runs. In 2015. he hit 37 home runs, last year 35, and the year before that 30. If he could hit 30 home runs in 2016 that would put him 19th all time just ahead of Ted Williams’ 521. Ahead of Ortiz, Jimmie Foxx sits at 534 and Mickey Mantle at 536. He would need three home runs to tie Mantle at 17th all-time, which would go a long way towards bolstering his Hall of Fame case.
But David Ortiz does have other things working his favor beyond just the home runs. He was a high level performer in the playoffs on multiple occasions with some notable achievements. He appeared in the playoffs in eight separate years. He amassed 357 plate appearances in 82 games, hitting .272/.358/.493 with 27 home runs.
In 2004, he helped the Red Sox break one of the longest running World Series droughts and ended the “Curse of the Bambino.” He hit .400/.515/.764 with 5 home runs that year. He hit two walk off home runs – one in the division series and one in the championship series. Afterwards he was named ALCS MVP.
So he has the home runs and his post season performance working to bolster his Hall of Fame case. He’ll need that too. The only other primary DH to be voted into the Hall to date is Frank Thomas. David Ortiz has had an impressive career but it doesn’t quite stack up to The Big Hurt’s.
| Player | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | HR | wRC+ | fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Thomas | 10075 | .301 | .419 | .555 | 521 | 154 | 72.0 |
| David Ortiz | 9465 | .284 | .378 | .547 | 503 | 138 | 46.1 |
David Ortiz has a year left to improve some of those numbers, and he stands a good chance of surpassing Thomas in home runs, but he’ll never make up for the wRC+ or fWAR. And that’s not the only thing working against him.
His 46.1 fWAR ranks 210th all time. That’s not exactly Hall of Fame worthy. He spent the majority of his season as a designated hitter. He’s logged just 2161.0 innings in the field, all at first base. That’s equivalent to just 240 games. As such, WAR docks him points. If voters take note of that, it will work against him. I would note that if you just focus on his offense, David Ortiz’s 138 wRC+is tied for 84th best all time. But as I mentioned above Frank Thomas is the only primary DH that has been voted in and his career numbers are much better. And there is more.
David Ortiz was one of the players that took part in what was supposed to be an anonymous survey conducted by federal investigators to see how prevalent performance enhancing drug usage was in baseball. In 2009, some of the results were published by the New York Times. Ortiz was listed as one of the players that tested positive for PEDs. Ortiz would publicly deny ever buying or using such drugs. MLB and the Players Association later said that because of several factors any player on that list may not have actually tested positive for a PED. Apparently, the number of players listed exceeded the number that was actually tested. Furthermore, there were substances that were legal at the time that may have resulted in a positive result.
Despite the lack of any actual evidence to prove Ortiz used any kind of illegal substance, there are likely to be some voters who withhold their vote. In recent years players from the PED era have begun appearing on Hall of Fame ballots and certain voters have made it known they won’t vote for anyone even suspected of having used PEDs. One wonders how long that sentiment will last and how far some will stretch their rationalizations.
But if we’re going to talk about his character, it can’t end there. He became a new sort of hero again in 2013. He hit .353/.500/.706 with five home runs in the playoffs that year helping the Red Sox to another World Series victory. But that’s not what I’m talking. Earlier that year a horrific act of violence befell the city of Boston. In April, the Boston Marathon Bombings happened.
It was a terrible and senseless tragedy that shocked everyone in America. Five days later David Ortiz did something that I know I won’t ever forget. During the pregame ceremonies he grabbed a microphone and made a statement: “This is our f—ing city, and no one is going to dictate our freedom. Stay Strong.”
I remember watching it, and to be honest, I laughed. You don’t expect to hear a famous athlete just drop the f-bomb on live national television. But he was in the moment. And what he might have lacked in eloquence, he more than made up for in sincerity and heart. It might seem a trifle thing to focus on now but it was kind of what I needed to hear then. A single athlete can’t do much to change the world. At their core, they’re just entertainers. But in that moment, he let me forget about the horror of reality and just smile.
And that was enough to endear him to me. I never followed the Red Sox closely. I don’t really have those sentimental memories of Ortiz helping them to win the World Series. But that impromptu moment will stay with me forever. And that’s worth something.
David Ortiz has had a great career. It started out slow and that might be enough to keep him out of the Hall. Afterall it seems like the Hall of Fame voting is more about keeping guys out these days. His numbers might not match up to the best of the best. But as far as I know his character does. And to me that’s more important.
