Boston Red Sox: Ranking the top 10 players from the 2000s
By Drew Athans
David Ortiz
David Ortiz is another player on this list who shouldn’t surprise anyone. He may be the single most important player in the history of the Red Sox and is almost certainly their greatest-ever free agent signing. He spent fourteen seasons with the Red Sox, from 2003 until his retirement in 2016 and became not only the face, but the heart and soul of the team.
He helped the team win three World Series in 2004, 2007, and 2013, but since the focus of this article is only the first decade of the 2000s, let’s look what he did from 2003 to 2010. During those regular seasons he hit .285 with 288 home runs and 932 RBI. He led the American League in 2006 with 54 home runs which also set the Red Sox single season record.
Even more than what Ortiz did in the regular season was what he did in the postseason. His combined stats for the 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009 postseasons are a .312 average to go with 12 home runs and 43 RBI. Beyond the numbers, though, Ortiz was one of the most clutch postseason hitters not only in Red Sox history, but in baseball history.
He’ll forever he known for the big hits he delivered during the 2004 ALCS comeback, winning Game Four with an extra innings home run and Game Five in extras with an RBI single. For the rest of his career, whenever the Red Sox needed a big hit, no matter the stakes, David Ortiz delivered.