In 2004, David Ortiz was looked at as an idol in the eyes of Boston fans. Coming off a 40 HR season, the Bosox superstar DH single-handedly led the self-proclaimed Idiots (including Johnny Damon, who in my opinion should spend his afterlife in fire and brimstone, but this is not a time for my anti-Damon rant) to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS against the Yankees and easily beat the Cardinals in a lopsided World Series. In 2006, he had 5 walk-off hits, and led the American League in HRs with 54 (a franchise record). The following year Papi hit .332 with 35 HR, 117 RBI, and 52 doubles.
So what happened to this unstoppable force? Ortiz since 2008 has failed to reach 30 HRs, 100 RBI, or even a .270 BA. While it was revealed last year that Ortiz was on the juice, it doesn't seem to me like that is the cause of his struggles. He still has a ferocious swing, and can still hit the ball farther than anyone besides Ryan Howard and Willy Mo Pena. But with this great power comes great responsibility, a responsibility he seems to have forgotten. When he makes contact with a normal, fundamental swing, Ortiz hits a good hard ball the majority of the time. However, recently, he seems to be trying to do too much, swinging for the fences every at bat, totally ignoring the fundamental teaching of "eye on the ball".
The most disheartening part of his struggles is that he has lost his trademark confidence. When 2004 Ortiz came to bat, his batting stance was more intimidating than an angry bull. He had the mindset that every time he stepped into the box, he would slam the ball out of the park. The 2010 Ortiz stands loosely and lax, looking more like an overweight guy in a senior softball league. Without this confidence, the frustration of his slumps continue to eat at him, until he loses control (e.g. his harsh words to the media, and his ejection on Friday night).
Of course, the most obvious reason for this would be that he doesn't have Manny Ramirez batting after him anymore. Never before could pitchers risk putting a man on base with a walk while Man-Ram would be waiting to bat next. Now that they can, as Adrian Beltre and JD Drew are no Manny Ramirez, it is very apparent that Ortiz's eye is not as good as it once seemed. He swings at bad pitches and gets rung up looking very frequently. So the disappearance of Ramirez did not necessarily make Ortiz worse, but instead brought out some dangerous flaws.
Ortiz will always be my favorite athlete of my childhood. The joy of watching him during the 2004 World Series run was surreal. However, it seems like it might be time for this idol to throw in the towel. Hopefully, doing so will not be cause strenuous end to Ortiz's career in Boston, but a time for reflection of the greatness that was.
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I think another huge point of weakness is his inability to hit the ball anywhere except to the extreme right side of the field. There have been a handful of balls this year that he has smoked into the hole between first and second base, only to have Cano calmly field it in shallow right field and throw him out by a mile. I don't care how hard you hit the ball...if a team can put all of their defenders into a concentrated area of the field, your hitting prowess will suffer greatly.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to call him Big Pop-up...but I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of Damon.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to accuse players of steroid abuse unless we know for sure... but those reports of Manny and Ortiz shooting up (particularly in the '04 season) do make you wonder, especially when a guy just COMPLETELY drops off the face of the earth the way that Ortiz has.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that Ortiz has "COMPLETELY dropped off the face of the earth." He had a poor start to 2009 in April and May. After that, though, he had a homer every 13.5 at bats. That's a great ratio. Sure his performance fell off from previous years (especially BA) but he still finished with 28 HR and 99 RBI. In my opinion, that's not shabby enough to say that his numbers disappeared.
ReplyDeleteI have to respectfully disagree with you Russ.
ReplyDeleteIt's all relative. If say 25 - 30 HR's were the norm for Ortiz, then I might agree with you.
This is a guy however, who it 54 Home Runs in '06. He dropped down to 35, 23 and 28 the following three seasons respectively.
There is a HUGE difference between 28 HR's and 54 HR's.
If you just look at it and say, "Oh 28 HR's is nice" --- for a guy that was over 40 HR's each of the three seasons prior to that (one of which was over 50) it is not so great.
Sure, I'll take 28 HR's on my team any day, but when you are EXPECTING a guy to hit AT LEAST 35 (and I'm being very generous here), it hurts.
It's a difference of nearly 30 HR's a year, which would constitute a pretty huge drop off.