Over the past five years has David Ortiz become the best offensive force is in all of baseball?

Question

Regardless of clutch hits and wins and walkoffs, the numbers do not lie. Look at the improvement every year, this year he is on pace for 56 HR and 160 RBI this year. If that is not MVP worthy what is?

BATTING STATS
Year Team HR RBI OBP AVG

2002 MIN 20 75 .339 .272
2003 BOS 31 101 .369 .288
2004 BOS 41 139 .380 .301
2005 BOS 47 148 .397 .300
2006 BOS 34 95 .389 .283

I agree that Pujols is nasty and I accepr that due to his age and improvement every year, he may be the best. It is too bad he got hurt this year, because he was putting up monster numbers.

By the way, I am not super impressed by A-Rod's four year span. Ortiz has shown more consistency, improvement, and power.

Answer 1

I hate to admit this because I am a die hard Yankee fan but he is the best player in baseball. If I were Joe Torre I would walk him even if the bases are loaded since he can only get 1 rbi that way. I''ll take my chance pitching to Manny!

Answer 2

I would say based off the stats you have provided for Ortiz he may only be ruling the AL, because based off the numbers Albert Pujols is destroying all of baseball offensively:
2002 STL 34 127 .403 .329
2003 STL 43 124 .439 .359
2004 STL 46 123 .415 .331
2005 STL 41 117 .430 .330
2006 STL 32 85 .443 .328

And oh yeah BTW Pujols game winning hits are comparable to Ortiz.

And no I am not a Cardinals fan.

Answer 3

He may the best offensive force this year, but I don't think the five-year run is all that impressive. I'd take this guy in the previous four years:

2002 57 142 .392 .300
2003 47 118 .396 .298
2004 36 106 .375 .286
2005 48 130 .421 .321

That player, by the way, is Alex Rodriguez.

I like Bib Papi a lot, but let's not go crazy on the praise. He's definitely the MVP front-runner, but it's not like he's been dominating the league for ten years.

One other note for those who keep talking about ARod's inability to hit in "the clutch," if such a thing exists - His career OBP is HIGHER with men on base than with them empty. Same with hitting with men on and two outs, or with runners in scoring position. It would be nice if people checked the damn stats once in a while, instead of making things up. But I guess logic loses out on here in place of intelligent comments like, "He sucks."

Answer 4

Of course he is. And to the guy with A-Rod's stats - how many of those HR and RBI's meant anything to the team? Sure he may get 2 HR and 8 RBI in a 15-2 win, but he'll strike out in the 9th with men on and the Yanks down by one. Ortiz comes thru when we need him the most.

Answer 5

Ortiz is a very controlled hitter, hes patient and consistent.You do not see alot of players now or in the past that can do what Poppi has done for this team.When you are in the 8th inning with the score tied and he gets up to bat and hits a grand slam with 2 outs, that is simply amazing!!!!!He deserves everything MVP and everything else.Hes an extraordinary player.

Answer 6

Yes...and this is coming from a Yankee fan. People keep bringing up Pujols but sorry, Ortiz has more winning hits than I count on both Pujols' and A-Rod's hands combined.

Answer 7

He is for sure the second best player in the MLB, (behind pujols) therefore theres no one (especially since A Rod sucks) that can take the MVP away from him, unless Thome gets hot

Answer 8

yes pujols is great ,but he plays in the national league. The NL pretty much sucks.Ortiz plays in the toughest division in baseball, I think that the says it all.Especially since the red sox own the nl in interleague play this year!!!!!!

Answer 9

no. Albert Pujols.

Answer 10

Yup...and he's done it without steroids. Right Barry ?