David Ortiz

David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American former professional baseball designated hitter and first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1997 to 2016, primarily for the Boston Red Sox.

Ortiz was born on November 18, 1975, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, as the oldest of four children of Enrique (Leo) Ortiz and Ángela Rosa Arias.

As a boy, he followed the careers of standout pitcher Ramón Martinez and his younger brother Pedro, attending games whenever he could and building a friendship with Pedro that would only grow over the years.

Ortiz graduated from Estudia Espaillat High School in the Dominican Republic, and was a standout baseball and basketball player there.

On November 28, 1992, Ortiz was signed by the Seattle Mariners just 10 days after his 17th birthday, who listed him as "David Arias" due to not being familiar with Spanish naming customs.

He made his professional debut in 1994 for the Mariners of the Arizona League, batting .246 with two home runs and 20 RBI.

By 1995, he had improved those numbers to .332 with four home runs and 37 RBI.

In 1996, he was promoted to the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League, a Mariners farm team.

He established himself as one of the Mariners' best hitting prospects, batting .322 with 18 home runs and 93 RBI.

Ortiz also impressed both fans and Mariners' players like Alex Rodriguez with a strong performance in an impromptu home run derby—the result of a failed Mariners' promotion in which the Timber Rattlers were supposed to play an exhibition game against the MLB club in front of their home fans in Wisconsin, but the game was rained out.

Also in Wisconsin, Ortiz met his future wife Tiffany; she led him to become a fan of the nearby Green Bay Packers NFL team, a devotion that would become lifelong.

Baseball America named Ortiz the most exciting player in the Midwest League, as well as its best defensive first baseman for 1996.

Despite his strong year in the Mariners' system, on September 13, 1996, Ortiz was traded to the Minnesota Twins as the player to be named later to complete an earlier transaction for Dave Hollins.

When he arrived in Minnesota, he informed the team that he preferred to be listed as "David Ortiz"—using his paternal family name rather than "Arias" which was his maternal family name.

Referring to the switch, sportswriter Jay Jaffe called Arias/Ortiz "literally the player to be named later."

Ortiz rose quickly through the Twins system in 1997.

Though he started with the High-A Fort Myers Miracle, he quickly progressed through Double-A (New Britain Rock Cats), to the Triple-A Salt Lake Buzz.

At the three levels, Ortiz combined to hit .317 with 31 home runs and 124 RBI, earning a September call-up to the Twins' MLB club.

Ortiz made his MLB debut for the Twins on September 2, 1997.

He played in 15 games in September, batting .327 in 49 at bats.

He recorded his first major league hit in his second game, on September 3, with an eighth-inning pinch-hit double against the Chicago Cubs.

He hit his first major league home run on September 14 against the Texas Rangers, off pitcher Julio Santana, going 3-for-4 with two walks in the game overall.

Ortiz hit one home run and had 6 RBI in his first season.

In 1998, Ortiz entered the season with his sights set on playing as the regular first baseman for the Twins.

However, Ortiz's playing style was somewhat different from the approach favored by manager Tom Kelly, which placed a premium on avoiding strikeouts, and great defense (which Kelly felt Ortiz still needed to work on).

While Kelly worked with Ortiz on his defense, he hit well, batting .306 through May 9 before fracturing his wrist and going on the disabled list.

He returned to the Twins in July following a rehab assignment to Triple-A and finished the season with the team.

He ended his rookie year strong, batting .360 in September.

All told, he hit .277 with nine home runs and 46 RBI in 86 games.

In 1999, Ortiz figured to be a fixture in the lineup, but after a tough spring training which saw him bat only .137, he was sent down to the Triple-A Salt Lake Buzz as the sure-handed rookie Doug Mientkiewicz earned the first base job.

It was becoming apparent that manager Tom Kelly preferred veteran players or those who fit into his small-ball and good defense philosophy, something Ortiz would later be vocal about after his days with the Twins.

After playing parts of six seasons with the Minnesota Twins with unremarkable results, Ortiz moved to the Red Sox, where he played a leading role in ending the team's 86-year World Series championship drought in 2004, as well as winning championships in 2007 and 2013; he was named the World Series Most Valuable Player in 2013.

Regarded as one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time, he had 11 career walk-off home runs during the regular season and two during the 2004 postseason, the first of which clinched the AL Division Series.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2022.

In his first five seasons with the club, he averaged 41 home runs and 128 runs batted in (RBIs), leading the American League (AL) twice in the latter category and setting the team's single-season record of 54 home runs in 2006; he finished in the top five of the AL's Most Valuable Player voting all five years.

Used almost exclusively as a DH during his 14 seasons with the Red Sox, he was a ten-time All-Star and a seven-time Silver Slugger winner, and became regarded as one of the greatest designated hitters of all time.

He received the Edgar Martínez Award as the league's top DH eight times, and set major league records for career home runs (485), RBIs (1,569) and hits (2,192) as a DH.

He posted ten seasons each with 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, and batted .300 or better seven times.

After a drop in his offensive numbers from 2008 to 2012, he enjoyed a strong resurgence in his last four seasons, and had one of his best years in his final campaign, leading the AL in doubles, RBIs, and slugging percentage, once again leading the team to the postseason.

Upon his retirement, Ortiz ranked sixth in AL history with 541 home runs, fifth in doubles (632) and ninth in RBIs (1,768).