Red Sox: Where David Ortiz ranks in franchise, MLB history

Red Sox History

Ortiz spent 14 seasons in Boston after the Red Sox scooped him up off the free agent scrap heap in 2003. It wouldn’t take long for him to make the Minnesota Twins regret giving up on him. Ortiz set new career-highs in virtually every offensive category that season to finish fifth in MVP voting.

This is where the legend of Big Papi was born.

As impressive as he was in that first season in Boston, Ortiz was merely getting started. He would go on to rack up numbers that rival the best hitters in franchise history.

When comparing Ortiz’ numbers in Boston to others who wore a Red Sox uniform, I’m excluding anyone who fell short of 1500 plate appearances. Sorry, but if you didn’t see enough playing time to account for essentially three seasons with the franchise then you can’t be considered among the all-time great Red Sox players.

Here are the career numbers for Ortiz with the Red Sox, with his franchise rank in parenthesis.

More from David Ortiz

• David Ortiz wants Red Sox to target top free-agent pitcher Justin Verlander
• Drug lord connected to David Ortiz shooting pleads guilty to drug charges
• Tom Brady, Bucs’ recent struggles should make Red Sox fans grateful for how David Ortiz retired
• David Ortiz’s NLCS antics are the ultimate Boston betrayal
• David Ortiz shades Red Sox in NLCS conversation with Kyle Schwarber

Batting Average: .290 (30th)

On-Base Percentage: .386 (13th)

Slugging: .570 (4th)

Home Runs: 483 (2nd)

RBI: 1530 (3rd)

Runs: 1204 (5th)

wOBA: .400 (6th)

wRC+: 146 (5th)

WAR (FanGraphs): 48.2 (8th)