Call him Big Papi. Call him Senor Octubre. Call him David Ortiz.

Just don’t call him washed up.

In early June a Boston TV reporter asked Ortiz if he was washed up. Ortiz calmly answered the question, saying “What can I tell you, man? A lot of people looked at me like that seven years ago, and here I am still.”

A few days later, the 39-year-old Ortiz admitted he was not happy with the insinuation that he was “washed up.” He felt it was disrespectful. He felt he had proven himself enough over the years to get the benefit of the doubt.

He then went about proving his doubters wrong.

Since the first of June, Ortiz is hitting .294 with 25 homers in 80 games. He has an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) over .990. By all measurements he has re-established himself as one of the top hitters in the game.

And he’s still fired up about the idea that he’s washed up.

On Sunday, before the final game against the Phillies, Ortiz was talking about being disrespected. He still wasn’t happy that anyone would say he was past his prime. He then went out and hit the 497th home run of his career.

It was his 200th homer at Fenway Park, making him just the fourth hitter in the history of the old ballpark to go deep that many times. He’s put himself in pretty good company. Ortiz joins Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice in the 200 Fenway Home Run club.

The three above him on that list are already in the Hall of Fame. One of them has learned to appreciate the work Ortiz has put in to stay on top of his game.

“He’s always talking about pitchers,” said Rice. “People don’t see the work he does at the ballpark. He never tries to get out of the work. He knows he needs to set the tone for the young players around him.”

These days, just about every other player in the lineup is a young player. As Ortiz keeps on going, he watches Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Blake Swihart forge the nucleus of a team that could be exciting in 2016. All are under 25.

Someday, they will tell people they played with the greatest designated hitter in the history of the game. Ortiz helped bring three championships to an organization that hadn’t won one in 86 years.

Someday, there will be a statue of Ortiz outside the ballpark, right there with Williams and Yastrzemski. It will call Ortiz the greatest clutch hitter to wear a uniform. It will talk about his evolution from Minnesota Twins castoff to beloved Sox DH. It will show his numbers and postseason heroics.

And most assuredly, it will not say he was washed up.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.