Boston Red Sox: The David Ortiz Origin Story

As he finishes his career this season, Boston Red Sox’s David Ortiz has had numerous stories shared about how he became the superstar hitter that he is. What is the truth?

Many national writers have talked about David Ortiz this summer, but sadly, many have missed the mark on his real background. The details are actually sometimes more interesting than the fiction!

How Ortiz Came To Minnesota

David Ortiz, in fact, was not always David Ortiz. David Arias was signed by Seattle in November of 1992 out of the Dominican Republic. He was an unheralded prospect (hence, not being signed at the July 2nd opening date for international free agents out of a widely scouted country like DR), and did not make his professional debut until 1994. His minor league career with the Mariners was fairly nondescript over 3 seasons, but he did hit over .300 with 24 total home runs in 170 games over those three years, reaching the low-A level Midwest League in 1996.

The Twins and Mariners made a trade in 1996 to trade pinch hitter extraordinaire David Hollins to the Mariners in late August for a player to be named later. Ortiz (still named Arias at that time) was the player named to complete the trade once the minor league season had completed, so his first exposure to the Twins was in 1997.

For the Twins in 1997, Ortiz (who had now changed his name) rocketed up the minor league system as a 21 year-old. In a system devoid of power, Ortiz’s big frame was something the Twins valued, and he certainly produced at every level, even hitting for an .802 OPS at the major league level in a 15-game September audition.

Starting in 1998, Ortiz became the strong side of the platoon at DH for the Twins. When there was a righty on the mound, Ortiz was their DH. When there was a lefty, however, they would frequently give a right-handed hitter either a day off in the field or pair another hitter for a short time with Ortiz in that platoon role. Though his splits were frequently not strongly weighted, the Twins insisted he was stronger against right-handed pitchers and he never got 500 plate appearances once with the Twins at the major league level.

Then after 2002, he left for Boston. What happened there?

Next: Ortiz To Boston

How Did Ortiz Get To Boston?

Many call the Red Sox’ signing of Ortiz as one of the greatest bargains in the modern free agent era, but how did it truly happen? Many have reported it was over financial issues. Some have reported that Ortiz wanted out of Minnesota. Others have stated that Boston pursued Ortiz heavily for an open DH slot in their lineup. What’s true?

First, Ortiz was beloved in Minnesota by the fan base. He was one of few true power hitters on the Twins, and the Twins were coming off a 2002 AL Central Division title, beginning a solid decade of play that certainly could have used a big bat in the middle of the lineup. So were the Twins cheap, and did Ortiz want out?

From all accounts, Ortiz loved Minnesota as much as the fans loved him. He also was completely shocked to find that he was let go after the 2002 season, when he had a very solid season with 20 home runs and 32 doubles in only 466 plate appearances. So Ortiz wasn’t the issue.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

The Twins finances weren’t really the issue either. As notoriously cheap as Carl Pohlad may be known to have been, the team was so young that there were not many guys who were expensive. Yes, Ortiz was eligible for arbitration, but his likely $3-4M maximum arbitration award (likely around $2.5M expected) would have fit in the budget just fine. The real issue was a roster crunch.

Michael Cuddyer had shown himself worthy of a promotion to the big league level full-time, and the team had a platoon in right field already, so they were attempting to shuffle pieces. The other end of things was that the Twins felt that in their ballpark, right-handed power was more valuable than left-handed power, and Ortiz’s platoon mate at DH, Matt LeCroy was a righty power guy that the team saw becoming a masher in the Metrodome.

The Twins released Ortiz on December 16th. To say he was pursued hard by the Red Sox would be incorrect. The Twins had designated Ortiz for assignment, and any team in the league could have had David Ortiz had they been willing to go to arbitration with him once they acquired him from Minnesota. However, no team was willing to give anything to the Twins for Ortiz, so he continued playing in the Dominican Winter League while waiting for an offer.

He was signed on January 22nd, and at that point, he signed for half of what his expected arbitration award would have been. Ortiz was really an unknown commodity on the market, and really the Red Sox didn’t even know what they had, as we’ll see in the next slide…

Next: Ortiz Becomes A Star