In Puerto Rico on Friday night, Danny Ortiz went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. His stats still aren’t good with a .169 average and just two extra-base hits(both doubles) in 83 at-bats, but there was an interesting article out of Puerto Rico Friday about Ortiz(link is in Spanish). In it he said that the Pirates were very aggressive in trying to sign him this off-season, having Clint Hurdle call him and let him know that they want him to come in and compete for the fourth outfielder job out of Spring Training. Ortiz signed right away with Pittsburgh and he said in the article that he believes he can win that job.
Ortiz mentions that he was unhappy with the Twins, who didn’t give him a chance after what he considered was a very good season. He hit .248/.295/.430 with 31 doubles and 17 homers in 2015, though that came with a 33/105 BB/SO ratio. The article also talks about the Pirates visiting Puerto Rico without any players from there on the roster. Ortiz is from Puerto Rico and obviously his goal is to be on the active roster during that trip.
Winter stats aside, he has never been a big on base guy and doesn’t steal bases, but he can play all three outfield spots and there is some power in his bat. There is no clear cut fourth outfielder on the Pirates’ roster right now, so he could get a legit chance to compete for that spot if things don’t change.
In Venezuela, Jose Osuna went 1-for-3 with a walk. He is now hitting .339/.402/.506 in 47 games. He has the sixth best OPS in the league.
Elias Diaz went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. He is hitting .246/.309/.459 in 17 games.
Gorkys Hernandez went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. He’s batting .333 through 46 games, which ties him for the eighth best average in the league.
Deolis Guerra faced two batters, giving up a hit and a walk before being pulled from the game. In six appearances, he has allowed one run over 4.2 innings.
Jhondaniel Medina faced three batters and got two ground balls and a strikeout. One of the batters reached on an error. In nine outings, he has allowed one run over eight innings.
In the Dominican, Pedro Florimon went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. He is still hitting .211, but he has really cut down on the strikeouts. He struck out 20 times in his first 12 games and just three times in his last eight games.
Gustavo Nunez went 1-for-5 with a double and run scored. The double was his first extra-base hit in 27 winter games.
Wilkin Castillo went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. He was 1-for-19 coming into the game.
In Australia, Sam Kennelly went 0-for-3 with a walk and run scored. He is hitting .208 through 13 games.
In Mexico, Carlos Munoz grounded into a double play as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. In his last ten games, he is 5-for-36 with a .323 OPS.
Sebastian Valle went 1-for-4 with a double. He is hitting .233 with one walk and six doubles in 19 games.
