David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican American retired professional baseball player. Ortiz was a designated hitter (DH) in Major League Baseball (MLB) who occasionally played first base. He played for the Minnesota Twins from 1997 to 2002 and the Boston Red Sox from 2003 to 2016.
Ortiz was a ten-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion, seven-time Silver Slugger winner, and he holds the Red Sox single-season record for home runs with 54, set during the 2006 season.
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Ortiz was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners on November 28, 1992, but was traded to the Minnesota Twins in 1996. He made his major league debut on September 2, 1997 for the Twins. After parts of 6 seasons in Minnesota, Ortiz was released by the Twins and signed with the Boston Red Sox. In Boston, Ortiz established himself as one of the most powerful sluggers of all time. He was instrumental in the team ending its 86-year World Series championship drought in 2004, as well as during successful championship runs in 2007 and 2013. He was the MVP of the 2013 World Series.
Ortiz finished his career with 541 home runs, which ranks 17th on the MLB all-time home run list, 1,768 RBIs (22nd all-time) and a .286 batting average. Among designated hitters, he is the all-time leader in MLB history for home runs (485), runs batted in (RBIs) (1,569), and hits (2,192). Regarded as one of the best clutch hitters of all time, Ortiz had 11 career walk-off home runs during the regular season and 2 during the postseason.
1997-2002 |
2003-2016 |