My dad has always told me that the way he distinguishes a great hitter was if he stopped what he was doing and watched their at bat. He told me that every time Big Papi was hitting he was watching. Both of these guys were nearly career long DHs. Both late bloomers and both some of the best hitting of their respected time period, Ortiz of the mid 2000s till the late 2010s, Martinez of the 90s and early 2000s.

What differentiates these two hitters to me was that Martinez had one great stretch of hitting and slowly declined, Ortiz had one great stretch of hitting started to decline and then had another great stretch of hitting. Martinez hit .312/.418/.515 for his career, Ortiz hit .286/.380/.552. Now for those stretches I was talking about. Martinez from 1995-2001 hit ..329/.446/.574 averaging 31 homers and 123 RBI’s per 162 games. Ortiz from 2003-2007 hit .302/.402/.612 averaging 46 homers and 141 RBI’s per 162 games. Then from 2011-2016 (his last year) he hit .296/.386/.567 with 38 homers and 119 RBI’s per 162. From 2002-2004 for Martinez, the start of his decline, he hit .278/.383/.449 with 22 homers and 93 RBI’s he then retired.

Everyone thought that Ortiz was done after a similar decline hitting .257/.356/.498 with 33 homers and 116 RBI’s per 162. But then he went on the aforementioned late career surge. Martinez was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. If he is there Ortiz better be as Ortiz has more homers, RBI’s, runs, doubles, triples, runs and won 3 World Series rings. Martinez has none. Thanks for reading.