David Ortiz takes walk around the Natick Mall, talks health care, Sox and the shift

NATICK — David Ortiz knows all about walks. In his Major League Baseball career, the man known as "Big Papi" accumulated more than 1,300 of them.

Ortiz drew another walk on Monday, although this time he didn't stride down to first base at Fenway Park. Instead, he led a group of seniors and other fans around the Natick Mall as part of a promotional event with local Medicare company eternalHealth.

Ortiz, 46, last played for the Red Sox in 2016, but the 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee still has a lot of fans in Boston, particularly among seniors.

"The time I played in Boston, I think a lot of people were getting (to be seniors) when I was playing," Ortiz said.

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Ortiz started Monday's event by speaking to a group of seniors and other fans about the importance of health, alongside eternalHealth CEO Pooja Ika.

Ika, a 2019 Babson College grad, started eternalHealth last year in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. It has raised a seed round of $10 million from health care and tech entrepreneurs — and drew the notice of Ortiz, who serves as a brand ambassador.

Health and aging

"Health is something that is very important to me," Ortiz said. "I was an athlete for a long time and while you are an athlete, you are used to being in shape because your body is used to it. When you get older, it becomes more difficult, your body can't go at things the same way. My dad is battling cancer right now, so as my family members are aging, to me it's very important to me that they understand the importance of their health."

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He then led the group in a walk around the Natick Mall. Among the group of supporters Monday was Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon and a special guest of Ortiz and eternalHealth. While Gibb, 79, is used to running longer distances than a few laps around the mall — she can go about 10 miles per workout — she said senior health is something about which she's very passionate.

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"I love David, we were invited on to the field at Fenway earlier this year when he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame," Gibb said. "I was happy to be invited here by David, and Pooja. Senior health is something I'm really interested in and I love talking to people about it."

After the Red Sox wrapped up their season last Wednesday, finishing in last place in their division, Ortiz was forthright when it came to the team's performance.

"Not good, whenever the Red Sox are not in the playoffs, it's bad," he said in an interview. "As fans, you get used to winning and being in the playoffs, that is part of winning. I think the team knows it, and they got to be ready for next season."

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Ortiz, as he has done several times in recent weeks, said key issues for the Red Sox heading into next season are the futures of shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who can opt out of his contract this winter, and third basemen Rafael Devers, who becomes eligible for free agency after next season.

Ortiz was blunt when describing what he felt the organization needed to do.

"Sign both," he said. "You got to keep up with good players to give yourself a chance to win. Devers is a great player. He reminds me of myself while I played. This is business, everyone understands that. There is no question to ask about (whether or not to re-sign him), he is the guy that everybody would like to have."

In addition to his postseason heroics, which include helping the Red Sox win three World Series (2004, 2008 and 2013), Ortiz is known for his final season in 2016, when at age 40, he led the league in RBIs and slugging percentage. This season, fellow baseball legend and Dominican slugger Albert Pujols enjoyed a similar period of dominance while playing his final season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

"I'm so happy for him, we had a great relationship, he is like a brother to me. Watching him accomplish what he did is amazing," Ortiz said of Pujols. "It's one of those things that as a fan you enjoy watching, because I don't know if you are ever going to see another Albert Pujols in MLB, not for a while."

Big Papi: Beating the shift

Last month, MLB announced major rule changes for next season, which include a reduction in teams' ability to utilize the defensive shift — a strategy in which the defending team moves fielders to places where batters are expected to hit the ball, as opposed to keeping them at their standard positions. It's a tactic that was used regularly against Ortiz, a left-handed slugger who tended to pull the ball to the right side.

"It's one of those sabermetrics (baseball analysis) things, where I guess they guessed right," Ortiz said. "Being a left-handed pull hitter, obviously they are going to expect to hit down that way. They increased the shifting in my time."

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Not that it always worked.

"I remember one time we were playing in Tampa, and they sent the third basemen to go play down the left field line, so they had four outfielders," Ortiz recalled, before adding with a grin. "They forgot to put one in the stands, because that is where I ended up hitting it."

Ortiz admitted that facing the shift could be frustrating at times.

"Sometime you see how they organize the fielders, it doesn't make any sense," he said. "I always tell people that the shift might have cost me 3,000 hits (he finished with 2,472), because I hit into it a lot."

While Ortiz bristled at some of the changes to baseball over the years, he said he still watches frequently and loves the game as much as ever.

"It is what is, though, I still enjoy watching the games."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Big Papi, David Ortiz visits Natick Mall, talks eternalHealth, Red Sox