Designated Hitter
David Ortiz (with Red Sox from 2003-2016)
.290/.386/.570, 1953 G, 8398 PA, 148 OPS+ (with Red Sox)
Before David Ortiz became Big Papi, two MLB teams tossed him aside. The Seattle Mariners signed him as an amateur free agent in 1992 when he was just 17 years old and know as David Arias. It took him a few years to get going with the Mariners, but he had a breakthrough season with the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 1996 and was named the most exciting player in the Midwest League by Baseball America and the league’s best defensive first baseman.
Despite the strong season, Arias was sent to the Minnesota Twins as the player to be named later for Dave Hollins. He literally became “the player to be named later” when he informed the Twins that he wanted to go by David Ortiz, not Arias. He still wasn’t yet Big Papi, though.
Ortiz played six years with the Twins, with an average season being 76 games, 282 PA, 36 R, 10 HR, 40 RBI, and a .266/.348/.461 batting line. He was a slightly above average hitter, below average defensively and worth 0.4 WAR per year while getting about a half season’s worth of plate appearances. He still wasn’t Big Papi.
The Twins released Ortiz after the 2002 season in a cost-cutting move. Ortiz had started that season slowly, but hit .297/.363/.572, with 15 HR and 42 RBI in the second half. His salary was likely to increase from the $950,000 he made in 2002 to around $2 million. The Twins reportedly tried to trade him but couldn’t find any takers, so they just released him.
Ortiz was in the Dominican Republic during the 2002-2003 off-season and ran into Pedro Martinez at a restaurant. Pedro made some phone calls to Red Sox team officials and Ortiz was invited to spring training on a non-guaranteed free agent contract. He made the team but had to compete with Jeremy Giambi, Bill Mueller, Shea Hillenbrand, and Kevin Millar for playing time at first base and Designated Hitter early in the season.
When the Red Sox traded Hillenbrand and benched Giambi, Ortiz became the everyday DH and ran away with the job. He finished the year with 31 homers and 101 RBI and finished fifth in AL MVP voting. Big Papi had arrived.
That was the start of a terrific run for Ortiz. He won the Silver Slugger award as the best hitter at his position seven times and made the all-star team 10 times in his 14 years with the Red Sox. He also finished in the top five in AL MVP voting five straight years from 2003 to 2008.
More importantly, he was a key part of the 2004 Red Sox team that won the franchise’s first World Series since 1918, then won it again in 2007 and again in 2013. Ortiz was the MVP of the 2004 ALCS against the hated New York Yankees and the MVP of the 2013 World Series victory over the Cardinals. In addition to his regular season excellence, Ortiz hit .289/.404/.543 in 85 post-season games. He had many great post-season moments.
Ortiz retired after the 2016 season, which was one of the best age-40 seasons a player has ever had. According to FanGraphs, Ortiz was worth 4.4 WAR. Only Willie Mays (5.9 WAR), Sam Rice (4.6 WAR), and Darrell Evans (4.6 WAR) were better as 40-year-olds. The retirement of Big Papi leaves a big hole in the Red Sox lineup and his big bat and even bigger smile will be missed by Red Sox fans next season.