David Ortiz is making his return to television after being shot a few months ago. The former baseball star will be part of the MLB pregame and postgame playoff coverage for Fox per TMZ. Ortiz hinted at his return on social media earlier this week when he posted a photo of him and the Fox crew covering the World Series. And he caption, Oritz wrote “Soon.”
Ortiz has come a long way in the last few months. On June 9, the former Boston Red Sox star was shot in the back while sitting in a bar in Santo Domingo. The thought at first was Ortiz was the target of the attack but as the investigation went on, authorities revealed that Ortiz’s friend at the bar was the true target and the three-time World Series champion was hit by mistake.
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CNN reported the organizer of the plot and 14 others were arrested for the shooting. It’s been reported Victor Hugo Gomez Vasquez is accused of paying Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota a $10,000 bounty. Ortiz’s friend, whose name is Sixto David Fernandez, was sitting next to the 10-time all-star at the time of the shooting and is cousins of Vazquez.
After being released from the hospital in late July, Ortiz made his first public appearance at a Red Sox game last month. When talking to the Boston Globe, Ortiz said the shooting is not going to make him a more guarded person.
“I like to embrace people, make them feel comfortable around me. I was always very accessible, but I think I’m going to cut down on that a little now,” Ortiz said via Sporting News. “One lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t be naive. There are a lot of things going on now that you have to be aware of. I need to pay attention and be more careful.”
Ortiz knows all about playoff baseball since he won three World Series titles in his career. He played in the major leagues from 1997-2016 and he spent his first six seasons with the Minnesota Twins. For his career, Ortiz had a .286 batting average with 2,474 hits, 541 home runs and 1,768 RBIs. He was named to the All-Star team 10 times, was the World Series MVP in 2013 and his No. 34 jersey is retired at Fenway Park. He will likely be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021.
