#TBT-David Ortiz, 1B/DH, Boston Red Sox
@Hoover__26 June 2
Every generation has players that define it. The 1920s had the legendary Babe Ruth, the 1970s had guys like Willie Stargell and Pete Rose, but who do the 2000s have? From a name recognition standpoint (as well as a statistical standpoint), “Big Papi” David Ortiz is second only to maybe Derek Jeter (Vladimir Guerrero batted .323 with 315 homers and an MVP award in the 2000s, but who remembers that?). Ortiz is one of the legends of the game, sitting at #22 on the all time MLB home run list with 518 (he needs only four more to vault into the top twenty and pass three baseball legends in Ted Williams, Frank Thomas and Willie McCovey). With this being his final season, it’s only fitting that Ortiz is playing at a historic pace.
Big Papi is hitting .339 this season with 18 homers and 48 RBIs (which is good enough to lead the league in RBIs as well as being third on the active list), amazingly on pace (if he plays as many games as he did last year) to have arguably the best season of his career (he hit 54 home runs in his legendary 2006 season and he is on pace for 46, but all around his current pace is better than it was in ‘06). At 40 years old, the sixth oldest active MLB player (3rd oldest position player), having this kind of throwback season is unheard of. Obviously, fantasy owners didn’t expect this to happen, as he wasn’t even the #1 DH drafted on average in espn.com leagues (.235 batting, DL sitting Miguel Sano was taken nearly 20 picks before him on average). However, Ortiz’s final tour has kicked off with a big time blast, as he is as of now the #1 scoring non-pitcher in fantasy baseball (per game that is, he is third in total scoring). In fact, he scores more fantasy points per game than plenty of pitchers too. Possibly even more amazing is how little Ortiz is striking out. If you wanted too see where Ortiz ranked in total strikeouts on espn.com fantasy, you would have to go to the 4th page.
I think it’s safe to say we have probably seen the last of Ortiz playing the field, and I have to say that’s one throwback I don’t want to see. Ortiz was never known as the greatest fielder, but if you can hit like him, you will have a place in the conversation with the greats of the modern era. The last time Ortiz played at least 10 games at first base was 2006, and he made two errors in only 68 innings. Last season, his Rtot/yr (number of runs a fielder is worth above or below a replacement player, according to baseball-reference.com) was a whopping -22 in his nine games at the corner. However, that isn’t even his lowest. Ortiz’s Rtot/yr in 1999 was, wait for it… -192. By the way, I actually forgot about the years he spent with the Minnesota Twins (‘99 was one of them) until I looked at his numbers for this article. Here is a picture for everyone who doesn’t remember, look at that hair!
Big Papi is hitting .339 this season with 18 homers and 48 RBIs (which is good enough to lead the league in RBIs as well as being third on the active list), amazingly on pace (if he plays as many games as he did last year) to have arguably the best season of his career (he hit 54 home runs in his legendary 2006 season and he is on pace for 46, but all around his current pace is better than it was in ‘06). At 40 years old, the sixth oldest active MLB player (3rd oldest position player), having this kind of throwback season is unheard of. Obviously, fantasy owners didn’t expect this to happen, as he wasn’t even the #1 DH drafted on average in espn.com leagues (.235 batting, DL sitting Miguel Sano was taken nearly 20 picks before him on average). However, Ortiz’s final tour has kicked off with a big time blast, as he is as of now the #1 scoring non-pitcher in fantasy baseball (per game that is, he is third in total scoring). In fact, he scores more fantasy points per game than plenty of pitchers too. Possibly even more amazing is how little Ortiz is striking out. If you wanted too see where Ortiz ranked in total strikeouts on espn.com fantasy, you would have to go to the 4th page.
I think it’s safe to say we have probably seen the last of Ortiz playing the field, and I have to say that’s one throwback I don’t want to see. Ortiz was never known as the greatest fielder, but if you can hit like him, you will have a place in the conversation with the greats of the modern era. The last time Ortiz played at least 10 games at first base was 2006, and he made two errors in only 68 innings. Last season, his Rtot/yr (number of runs a fielder is worth above or below a replacement player, according to baseball-reference.com) was a whopping -22 in his nine games at the corner. However, that isn’t even his lowest. Ortiz’s Rtot/yr in 1999 was, wait for it… -192. By the way, I actually forgot about the years he spent with the Minnesota Twins (‘99 was one of them) until I looked at his numbers for this article. Here is a picture for everyone who doesn’t remember, look at that hair!
Regardless, let’s all enjoy Ortiz’s final run and marvel at his agelessness. Sit back, enjoy a container of Big Papi’s Kitchen Fresh Salsa, and watch as one of the past few decades’ most defining players has a throwback season of epic proportions.