Luis Ortiz

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2019
R+:  2-2-0, 4.09 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 50.2 IP, 4.3 BB/9, 6.6 K/9

Ortiz started his career in the rotation at Bristol, which was an ambitious assignment.  He pitched well until he started having control problems in August.  In July, he had a 2.33 ERA, with four walks and 17 strikeouts in 19.1 IP.  In August, he fell off to a 5.56 ERA, with 16 walks and 13 strikeouts in 22.2 IP.

2020
DNP

2021
A:  5-3-0, 3.09 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 87.1 IP, 2.9 BB/9, 11.6 K/9

Ortiz had something of a breakout season with Bradenton.  He started the season well, then had a shaky stretch in June, mainly due to control problems.  From the beginning of July on, he had an ERA of 2.73, along with 78 strikeouts and just 13 walks in 56 innings.  Ortiz generated a lot of swings and misses, finishing second in the league to teammate Adrian Florencio in strikeouts, with 113.  He was very tough on right-handed batters, holding them to an OPS of .599.  Left-handed batters had an OPS against him of .708.

2022
AA:  5-9-0, 4.64 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 114.1 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 9.9 K/9
AAA:  0-0-0, 3.60 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 10.0 IP, 3.6 BB/9, 10.8 K/9
MLB:  0-2-0, 4.50 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 16.0 IP, 5.6 BB/9, 9.6 K/9

Ortiz flew under the prospect radar until late in the 2022 season, when he suddenly flew quite a ways up the prospect rankings.  He spent most of the year in Altoona.  Even though he was skipping a level, he often dominated.  For instance, he had two immaculate innings (9 pitches, 3 strikeouts), which doubled the number in Altoona history.  He had a good WHIP, but his ERA ended up higher than his other stats would suggest, as whatever went wrong often seem to go wrong all at once.  His xFIP was a much better 3.76.  Ortiz made two starts for Indianapolis in early September.  He struggled a bit in one, then allowed no hits and fanned nine over six innings in the other.  The Pirates called him up due to a doubleheader and, in the end, he made four starts for them due to an injury.  The first three were outstanding, including a strong one against the Yankees.  He failed to survive the first in the last one.  He had gopher ball problems, allowing 21 (19 for Altoona), or one every six and two-thirds innings.  Left-handed hitters accounted for a dozen of those and put up an .802 OPS, so that’s obviously an issue.  Right-handed hitters managed just .578.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, Ortiz has established himself as one of the Pirates’ top pitching prospects.  He does have things to address going forward, the primary one being left-handed hitters.  Ortiz should get a serious chance to open the season in the Pirates’ rotation.  If the past is any guide, though, the Pirates will want to manipulate his service time to save the cost of one more arbitration year.  Winning games never enters into their calculations, so he may not return to the majors until close to mid-season.