David Ortiz so far has been making sure everyone will remember him in his stellar final season, but the Boston Red Sox slugger also has a chance to add another record to the books.
Ortiz has an MLB-best 27 doubles in 54 games so far, which ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield pointed out puts Ortiz on pace to hit 71 over 146 games (Big Papi hasn’t played in six of Boston’s games). The single-season record for doubles is 67, which Earl Webb set in 1931 while playing for the Red Sox.
However, Webb was 33 when he did it, while Ortiz is headed for retirement at 40.
Ortiz has a huge advantage calling Fenway Park, a doubles ballpark, home. His ability to crush baseballs off the Green Monster and to no man’s land in the center field triangle makes for plenty of extra-base hits, which is evident from the fact that he hit 22 of his 26 doubles in Boston.
And while Ortiz might not be putting up record numbers across the board, he’s still going out with a bang. He currently leads the league in slugging percentage (.725), OPS (1.149) and RBIs (55) and is tied for third in average (.340) and tied for sixth in home runs (16).
Thumbnail photo via Jesse Johnson/USA TODAY Sports Images
