Jeremias Portorreal

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2014
DSL:  167/289/240, 204 AB, 5 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 35 BB, 73 K, 1-3 SB

Portorreal struggled in his first pro season, most of which he played at age 16.  He drew a lot of walks, but struck out in well over a third of his ABs.  He played right field exclusively.

2015
DSL:  230/374/347, 213 AB, 8 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 45 BB, 67 K, 1-1 SB

Back in the DSL, Portorreal made strides, hitting the ball with more authority but still striking out nearly a third of the time.  He played right most of the time.

2016
DSL:  272/397/384, 151 AB, 9 2B, 4 3B, 28 BB, 28 K, 3-6 SB
R:  172/250/375, 29 AB, 1 2B, 2 3B, 3 BB, 7 K

The Pirates sent Portorreal back to the DSL for a third season.  He struggled badly in June, with a .525 OPS, but made some changes to his swing around mid-July and suddenly started to hit.  He put up a 297/400/391 line in July and 366/509/537 in 13 August games in the DSL.  After striking out once every three and a half ABs in June, he did so just once every seven the last two months, totaling 15 strikeouts and 22 walks.  He continued playing mostly right, but saw a little time in left.  In mid-August, the Pirates promoted Portorreal to the GCL.  Promotions during the season from the DSL are unusual, but a series of injuries had left the GCL team short of position players.  Portorreal got into eight games in the GCL, mostly in right.

2017
R:  263/343/426, 190 AB, 6 2B, 5 3B, 5 HR, 21 BB, 59 K, 0-3 SB

Portorreal continued making progress in the GCL, showing in-game power for the first time.  For context, his slugging average was good enough for 14th in a league in which .349 was the average.  He continued, though, to strike out at a high rate and struggled badly with LHPs, posting an OPS of .572 against them, albeit in a small sample size.  His OPS against RHPs was .832.  The Pirates played him almost exclusively in right.

2018
R+:  172/298/253, 87 AB, 1 2B, 2 HR, 14 BB, 36 K, 1-1 SB

Portorreal went to Bristol and the progress he made in 2017 didn’t hold.  He continued to draw walks at a good rate, but his strikeout rate increased to one every two and a half at-bats.  He played only 11 games in the field, all in left, and just nine games in August.

Portorreal is eligible for the Rule 5 draft for the second time.  He’s made little progress and might not be back for 2019.