Last rites were being read on David Ortiz’s illustrious major league career when he stumbled out of the gates this season. This prompted the Boston Red Sox slugger, 39, to feel compelled on numerous occasions to vehemently deny that Father Time at long last had caught up with him.
A rudimentary look at his statistics did indicate that his skills at the plate did appear to be slipping, though, as he found himself mired in a prolonged slump earlier this season when he had a slash line of .236/.337/.444 in April and a woeful .214/.287/.337 in May while knocking out only six home runs over that nearly two-month span.