The Red Sox moved David Ortiz down to fifth in the batting order:
Through patience and a tweak to his batting mechanics, Mike Napoli went from one of the worst slumps in his career to American League Player of the Week.
The Boston Red Sox (21-24) are hoping for some of the same kind of magic from David Ortiz, who will bat as low as fifth in the order on Tuesday for the first time since 2012. Red Sox manager John Farrell swapped Ortiz and Pablo Sandoval in the No. 3 and 5 holes and put right fielder Rusney Castillo back into the lineup after Boston produced eight hits in Monday’s 7-2 loss, ending a three-game streak of at least 10 hits.
Like it or not, Ortiz is old. This is his age 39 season. It looked like he was fading around 2009, but bounced back quite well. His OBP fell off in 2014 (while still good), but both that and his slugging took a big hit this year. He goes into Tuesday night’s game with a .221/.311/.383 slash line. That is not good for a designated hitter:
“I’m running out of patience a bit, which is when I’m not at my best,” Ortiz said. “I have to go back to being patient and swing at the pitches I can drive.”
He’s still drawing walks, as evidenced by the difference between his BA and OBP. He recognizes balls from strikes, but just drive the strikes any more.
On the other hand, he has 154 at bats this season. That sample is still small enough that he might bounce back. The Red Sox may need to face the the reality that Ortiz’s years as a productive hitter may be over.
Note also that if it’s a real change — if Ortiz can be expected to hit worse than Sandoval over the rest of the season — then swapping Ortiz out of the #3 into the #5 is exactly wrong. You want your #5 to be a better hitter than your #3. How did the smart guys in the Sox back rooms let Farrell do this?
James » Maybe Ortiz should bat 8th. 🙂
James: Since time immortal, a team’s best hitter has always batted 3rd or 4th. Besides everything else, it gives your best hitter more at bats. Where do you come up with beat hitter at 5th?