David Ortiz confirmed Monday he will remain retired from baseball amid speculation the former Boston Red Sox slugger might return to the game.
“My playing time has already expired,” Ortiz told Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes.
He maintained he hasn’t been undergoing his usual offseason preparations, a necessary precursor to playing.
“Baseball is not something that you wake up today and you say, ‘I’ll play tomorrow,'” he noted. “Baseball is something that carries a lot of sacrifice, a lot of preparation, and there is a reason why we train the entire year to play it, practice every day, especially during the season, because it is a sport of consistency.”
Ortiz, 41, has created some buzz surrounding a possible comeback. On Jan. 9, he sent out this cryptic tweet:
He also sent out an Instagram post after the Red Sox acquired star pitcher Chris Sale:
Certainly, if Ortiz ever did entertain a comeback, the Red Sox would welcome him back with open arms. Ortiz hit .315 with 38 home runs and 127 RBI last season, leading the team to the postseason. There’s little doubt that, should he choose to return, Ortiz would be productive.
It’s not just the Red Sox that would love to have him back. The Dominican Republic national team lost its centerpiece as well—particularly jarring with the World Baseball Classic in March—and replacing a player like Ortiz will take time for the country. Ortiz acknowledged as much.
“It’s a process, it’s not something that happens overnight,” Ortiz told Rojas. “There are a lot of people who are doing a good job and they are getting stronger, but they need to keep gaining experience and doing things well, on and off the field.”
Ortiz seems focused on his post-baseball life. Red Sox fans and fans of baseball may try to glean meaning from his social media posts, but Ortiz continues to maintain that his time in the game, at least as a player, is behind him.
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