Boston Red Sox: Ranking the top 10 players from the 2000s
By Drew Athans
Nomar Garciaparra
Without question, Nomar Garciaparra was the biggest homegrown star on the Red Sox during his time in Boston. From 1996 to 2004 he held down shortstop while hitting for a combination of average and power that brought back memories of Ted Williams. While his best seasons were in 1999 and 2000 when he won two straight batting titles and flirted with .400, he was still very good in the new century.
Nomar battled injuries after the 2000 season and the one to his wrist especially meant he was never quite the same hitter as he’d been before. He missed most of the 2001 season due to injury and was not an everyday player in 2004 (again, due to injuries) but put up very good numbers in 2002 and 2003 (before being traded at the 2004 deadline to the Chicago Cubs).
2001: .289 BA, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 7 BB, 13 R, 24 H, .352 OBP, .822 OPS (21 games)
2002: .310 BA, 24 HR, 120 RBI, 41 BB, 101 R, 197 H, .352 OBP, .880 OPS (156 games)
2003: .301 BA, 28 HR, 105 RBI, 39 BB, 120 R, 198 H, .345 OBP, .870 OPS (156 games)
2004: .321 BA, 5 HR, 21 RBI, 8 BB, 24 R, 50 H, .367 OBP, .867 OPS (38 games)
Nomar was a big reason why the 2003 team was as good as they were and why they made it to Game Seven of the ALCS that year. As evidenced by his sharp decline both in terms of injuries and production after the Red Sox traded him, it’s clear that Boston got the best out of Nomar.