At one point last season, there was talk amongst baseball writers that the Red Sox should consider waiving David Ortiz after his slow start to the 2010 season. Ortiz hit just .143-.238-.286 with just 1 HR, 4 RBIs and 6 extra base hits. There was talk that his bat was slowing and it showed as he struck out in 21 of his 56 April at bats.
He went on to hit .363-.424-.788 in May, and ended the 2010 season hitting .270-.370-.529 with 32 HRs, 102 RBIs and 86 runs scored. This season, Ortiz came out of spring training hitting .267-.373-.395 in April, but he was not the only Red Sox hitter to start out of the gate slow. One positive to take from his April start was that he had an excellent 11-15 K/BB rate.
Maybe he is just a slow starter like Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, because he caught fire in May, just as he did in May 2010. His May triple slash line was .342-.387-.694 with 10 HRs, 16 RBIs, and 19 extra base hits amongst his 38 total hits in May. He continued to own a solid K/BB rate-12-8- in May as well.
In June, Ortiz's triple slash line ws .295-.396-.590 with 5 HRs, 21 RBIs, and a 12-12 K/BB rate. Ortiz has proven in the last year and a half that his slow start to 2010 was just that, a slow start. For the season, Ortiz is hitting .304-.389-.581 with 19 HRs, 53 RBIs, 52 runs and a 40-41 K/BB rate.
There are no talks of a slow bat this season, and Ortiz is once again thriving in the potent Red Sox lineup. He is by far the top DH in the American League this season.