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Boston Red Sox top five home run hitters in franchise history

By Sean Penney

Boston Red Sox David Ortiz (R) is congratulated his solo homer by teammate Manny Ramirez in the top of the first innings against Japan's Hanshin Tigers in an exhibition game in the Tokyo Dome on March 22, 2008.The Boston Red Sox managed a narrow 6-5 victory against Tigers in an exhibition game here, days ahead of the official season opening games against the Oakland Athletics. AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI (Photo credit should read KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)
Boston Red Sox David Ortiz (R) is congratulated his solo homer by teammate Manny Ramirez in the top of the first innings against Japan's Hanshin Tigers in an exhibition game in the Tokyo Dome on March 22, 2008.The Boston Red Sox managed a narrow 6-5 victory against Tigers in an exhibition game here, days ahead of the official season opening games against the Oakland Athletics. AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI (Photo credit should read KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images)
(Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images) /

David Ortiz

The best home run hitter in Red Sox history is none other than Big Papi.

David Ortiz spent his early years as a part-time player in Minnesota. His impressive raw power was offset by the holes in his swing, prompting the Twins to give up on him after six seasons. Spoiler alert – this was a horrendous mistake by Minnesota.

The Red Sox scooped Ortiz up off the scrap heap and he immediately turned his career around. He broke out with a 31-homer campaign that launched him into the MVP discussion during his first year in Boston and Ortiz never looked back on his way to developing into one of the game’s brightest stars.

Ortiz finished his career 17th on the all-time home run list with 541 and he’s second in Red Sox history with 483 home runs. Only Ted Williams (521) stands ahead of Big Papi in franchise history but it took him nearly 1400 more plate appearances to reach that total and Ortiz has him beat in career home runs when factoring in the ones he compiled with the Twins.

Ortiz is also third in franchise history with a .280 ISO and fifth with a .570 SLG.

Once he arrived in Boston, Ortiz topped 30 homers ten times in 14 seasons. He set the single-season franchise record with 54 home runs in 2006 after topping 40 in each of the previous two seasons.

We can’t talk about Ortiz without mentioning the postseason. Nobody was more clutch than Big Papi in October. The walk-off homers that aided the Red Sox on their quest to reverse the curse in 2004. The iconic grand slam against the Tigers in the 2013 ALCS. Ortiz provided plenty of memorable playoff moments.  His 17 career postseason home runs are the seventh most in MLB history and the most by any Red Sox hitter.

He didn’t hit a home run in his final career at-bat like Ted Williams but Ortiz did have a farewell tour for the ages. At the age of 40, Ortiz blasted 38 home runs and led the league with 48 doubles, a .620 SLG and 1.021 OPS.

Next. Ranking players with retired numbers at Fenway. dark

Ortiz didn’t have the longevity of Yaz, the uncanny consistency of Williams or the beastly raw power of Foxx. What he had was the best combination of those traits. Over his 14 seasons with the Red Sox, Ortiz produced the second-most home runs in franchise history, set the single-season franchise record and became a postseason legend for his dramatic heroics. That’s why he takes the top spot on this list of prolific home run hitters.

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