The Book notes this post from John Dewan detailing the drop in David Ortiz’s distance on fly balls he hits. Tango comments:

Yowza. A drop of 18 feet per season. If I had to guess, I would have said that the average drop for a player in his early 30s would be 5 feet per season. I would not be surprised if it was only 2-3 feet, and I would not be surprised if it was 6-8 feet. Anything more than 10 feet would be a shock to me.

A 36-foot drop over a 2-year time period?

I’ll have to look at some data, but in general I agree. It also makes me think this may be more of a mechanical problem than a strength problem. Dewan’s data also shows a big drop in grounders, which confirms what I’ve seen, that Ortiz is getting under the ball when he swings. In other words, he’s not meeting the ball squarely. Maybe it is a lack of bat speed, or maybe it is an eye sight issue.

According to FanGraphs, Ortiz’s poor batting cost the Red Sox a win versus having a replacement designated hitter. That means if the Red Sox had a normal Ortiz, they’d be running away with the division, and even a replacement level DH would have them in first place. At some point, Ortiz needs to fix the flaw in his swing, or his vision, or he’ll need to look for a new job.