David Ortiz Does Not Need All-Star Pitchers to Groove Pitches Like With Derek Jeter

David Ortiz is having a legitimately great final season with the Boston Red Sox, and more than earned his start as an All-Star. He has 22 home runs and leads the A.L. in both slugging percentage and OPS at the break. In short, he doesn’t need anyone grooving him pitches because he’s hit plenty all year.

This isn’t a Derek Jeter situation–you might recall that two years ago, Jeter started in the All-Star Game despite having one of the worst seasons of any position player heading into the game. He had difficulty catching up to fastballs with the fork in the back impacting his stroke, and then Adam Wainwright said he grooved one to Jeter, before backtracking in a weird interview with Erin Andrews.

Nevertheless, Jose Fernandez reportedly said this, no doubt fueled by his admiration of Big Papi.

Reminder: the All-Star Game results still determine home field advantage for the World Series.