David Ortiz moves into seventh place on Red Sox hit list
By Mike Marteny
Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz collected his 1,708th hit as a member of the Red Sox with a fourth inning double off of Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman. This hit moved him into seventh place on the franchise’s all time hit list.
He moved past Harry Hooper, an outfielder for the Sox from 1909-1925.
Ortiz now trails only the Boston elite. That would be Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Wade Boggs, and Bobby Doerr. He is still 334 hits away from tying Doerr for sixth on the list.
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Ortiz was signed by the Seattle Mariners in 1992, when he was known as David Arias. When he was traded to the Minnesota Twins in 1996 in the Dave Hollins deal, he made it known that he preferred to be called David Ortiz.
Ortiz played six seasons before being released by the Twins in 2002.
The Red Sox signed Ortiz on January 22, 2003. Ortiz played mostly a bench role in the first couple of months of 2003, but was inserted into the lineup full time on June 1st of that year. He proceeded to hit .288 with 31 homers and 101 RBI.
Ortiz is already third on the Red Sox all time home run list with 392. He trails just Hall of Famers Williams and Yastrzemski.
He is also sixth on the franchise RBI list, just four away from taking over fifth place from Bobby Doerr.
Ortiz is also in the top five for the franchise in doubles, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Ortiz also holds the franchise record for home runs in a single season when he launched 54 in the 2006 season.