David Ortiz’a problems last season may have been caused by poor plate discipline. Fangraphs breaks it down:
People have focused on Ortiz’s power drop, but equally troubling were his lowest walk rate since 2004 and highest strikeout rate since 1998. Those lead to his pedestrian .332 OBP, taking away a huge chunk of his offensive value. The problem is that Ortiz has been swinging at an increasing percentage of pitches out of the zone. In 2004 he swung at a very low 15.2% of such pitches. But it has increased every year since to 22.6% in 2009.
Ortiz is out to prove his critics wrong this season. He showed up to camp in good shape and ready to play.
J.D. Drew spoke with reporters about his shoulder problems and surgery:
“Just the little shoulder surgery that I had, cleaning up some bone spurs on my AC joint that were giving me fits throughout the year,” Drew said. “We didn’t know what was going on. We never took any pictures or did anything during the season and it only got worse as the season went along, came in around Thanksgiving, had that done and feel great now.”
A healthy J.D. Drew will allow the Red Sox to produce runs throughout the order. Spring training may have just begun but the team looks ready to go out of the gate.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
