Big Papi Takes First: Must be the Cleats

Ball, Called Strike, Swinging Strike, Ball, Ball. Full Count to Ortiz at his first at bat in the MLB All-Star Game. Crappy little fizzle out to short right field just behind the dirt gives us this result on the Gameday tracker: "David Ortiz reaches on missed catch error by first baseman Prince Fielder, assist to second baseman Chase Utley." We've never fancied Papi a big runner, a big hitter for sure, but he's not likely to beat the ball to first when his hit dinks just outside of the infield (Lugo, Youk, Pedroia, oh there are lots of guys who might do it, Papi is way down on that list).

Today we give credit to those brand spanking new Reebok cleats he's got on his feet for giving him the slow trot speed to make it to first base on the error. We'll go ahead now and put it out there – it seems like an odd choice for our locally based shoe superpower to pick a guy who doesn't have any speed in reaching bases to be the flagship endorsement to a new cleat. Perhaps we're forgetting that hitting has a lot to do with the digging in at the batter's box when the plate is approached, and not so much to do with the actual running that pushes that on base percentage up to a more than healthy level. But we like Big Papi, everyone likes Big Papi, everyone wants to be Big Papi. Below you'll see a clip (thanks to anonymous tipster in the comments earlier today) of some Reebok promo people with David Ortiz as he smacks some balls toward a giant inflatable version of the new cleat: the Big Papi 2M Mid. He was taking the pre-derby hits with a metal bat, which ended up in the bay. Easy to explain for Ortiz: "hey, I just wake up man."