David Ortiz Puzzled by Intense Interest in His Early-Spring Stats

Prior to today’s game at City of Palms Park, Red Sox DH David Ortiz expressed surprise with respect to the media’s obsession with his slow start this spring (he was just 1-for-19 at the plate prior to today’s ballgame).

He said: “I’ve never seen my spring training numbers on the back of a baseball card. I’ve got nothing to prove. The season is the season. On April 2, who (cares) what you did in spring training? How many guys have you seen struggle in (spring training) and then boom, crush the season? And how many guys have you seen crush spring training and struggle like hell when the season starts? So spring training? I’m going to try to do well and get my at-bats and get my work in, but I could care less about (the results).”

Hitting coach Dave Magadan agreed, but also offered that the team would become concerned at some point if Papi’s struggles continued: “We’re monitoring him closely… We know he’s 1-for-18. I mean, in a perfect world we’d like for him to square up 16 out of 18 at-bats. He hasn’t done that, but, for me, a lot of that is timing. Once we get up into that 25, 30, 35 at-bat range, if he’s still not for the most part squaring the ball up or taking good, aggressive swings, then we’ll have to address it at that point.”

Afterwards, he went out and drew a walk, homered to right field, and drove a line drive single into the outfield. When he met with reporters afterwards, he declared: “I can’t believe you guys are kind of getting encouraged.”

He explained that, for him, spring training is all about mechanics and process, not results. It’s about refining the swing, maintaining balance at the plate, being selective, and the other basic components that go into hitting. He said that when all of those components are in place, the results take care of themselves.

After the game he said: “I’m feeling better. I feel like I jump less. That’s what I need to do. When I jump, I put myself in situations. When I jump, I move forward too fast. So I go and get the pitch and not let the ball come to me.”

Today, he let the ball come to him. He maintained his balance and put good swings on good pitches. And the results took care of themselves.