David Ortiz has been putting up with some lingering injury issues, but that’s not what’s sending him into retirement.
The Boston Red Sox designated hitter was limited to just 90 games in 2012 after suffering an Achilles tendon injury, and at the time, there were plenty of discussions about the fate of his career. However, the 2013 season came and went with a World Series win and a World Series MVP for Ortiz, and the 40-year-old has just been playing through the pain since then.
“If I would be playing for another year or two, I would have no problem with that,” Ortiz said Monday, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “I’ve learned how to put up with it.”
Ortiz credits Red Sox director of sports medicine services Dan Dyrek, who helped prolong Larry Bird’s career, with helping him prolong his own. In fact, Ortiz said it “probably would have been a different story” after 2012 without Dyrek.
And while Ortiz would like to play all 162 games every season, he doesn’t necessarily mind that the Red Sox choose to be cautious.
“We know that we have to be responsible for what we do,” Ortiz said. “You have to do whatever it takes to maintain that, especially as I got older. Throughout the years, it has got better. I just have to put work into it. During the season, I get (to) the field by noon and used to get to the field by 2 or 2:30 (p.m.). There are things I have to be responsible about. It is what it is.
“It has got better. You learn how to get it stronger and manage it. It’s fine.”
Thumbnail photo via Jonathan Dyer/USA TODAY Sports Images
