Inside the Majors

In a Shutter Island-esque turn of events few baseball analysts saw coming, David Ortiz, who spent the first month of the season cooling off the Northeast shore with wild whiffs, has found his stroke as we head towards the Midsummer Classic.   Pundits are now left scratching their heads who is this guy?  Hardly a question one would expect concerning a veteran entering his 14^th year of big league service.   Through April, Red Sox fans and opposing fans alike were calling for Ortiz’s head as he slumped his way to a .143 average with only a solo long ball to boot.  Critics worried his birth certificate is a fake and his old age was catching up to him, citing various other age discrepancies with Dominican born players.  Other naysayers trudged up old Mitchell Report findings and cited harsher PED crackdowns as the root of his poor play.  What a difference a month makes.  Riding a .363 hitting May complemented by 10 homeruns, Big Papi has raised his average to a reasonable though not spectacular .252 with an impressive 12 HR’s on the season.

While Ortiz’s first two month’s read like The Tale of Two Cities, what if any predictions can we expect from this guy for the rest of the season? Are all of his kinks finally worked out after accumulating enough at-bats to heat up?  Though it’s early in June, this month’s early numbers might make Red Sox nation take pause before heading all-aboard back on the Big Papi bandwagon.   Through his first 6 games of June, Ortiz has regressed to a meager .105 batting average.  Like any big league hitter, Ortiz is susceptible to streaks both hot and cold.  Take Phillies’ outfielder Jayson Werth for example who recently snapped an 0-21 hitless streak but endured much less criticism.  Kansas City’s Jose Guillen used his hot start amass a quick 13 HRs on the year but hasn’t hit a single deep shot since May 21 and has regressed to a .247 average.  Sure, David Ortiz isn’t a guy who’s going to hit 40+ HR’s anymore and, despite a torrent May, you shouldn’t expect him to be, but don’t expect David Ortiz to fade into the baseball afterlife just yet.

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