Senor Consistency

Ortiz just became another year older, but that won't stop him from raking (iSportsWeb_

Saddened by the news that David Ortiz is retiring after next year. The game is not only losing one of its best hitters, but also one of its steadiest.

When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2013, his teammates began calling him Senor Cooperstown. While that's still a viable nickname, especially after he slammed his 500th home run last season, I have another one for him; Senor Consistency.

Few players have been better at putting up the same numbers year after year than Ortiz. His 2013 was a spitting image of his 2011, sandwiched around an injury-shortened but still beastly 2012. His 2009 was a lot like his 2008, and his 2005 mirrored what he did in 2004. He's hit at least 20 home runs every year going back to 2002, and in only one of those years (2009) did he fail to slug .500.

This year it looked like Big Papi would fall far short of his usual production after a miserable start, but he rebounded with a monster second half to finish with virtually the same numbers from his 2014 campaign:

Ortiz's 2014 602 PA 136 H 35 HR 104 RBI 75 BB 95 SO .263/.355/.517 140 OPS+ 2.9 bWAR

Ortiz's 2015 614 PA 144 H 37 HR 108 RBI 77 BB 95 SO .273/.360/.553 141 OPS+ 3.2 bWAR

Incredibly, Ortiz has nothing to show for those two years awards-wise. He received one measly 10th place MVP vote (not surprising considering Boston finished last both years), was not an All-Star either year, and was passed over for the Silver Slugger both times (to Kendrys Morales this year--a far inferior hitter). Maybe people are just so used to him putting up monster numbers that they aren't impressed by them anymore.

Papi turned 40 yesterday, so perhaps 2016 will be the year he finally drops off. But based on the last 15 years, I wouldn't bet on it.