Joey Ortiz 2021

[Frobby]

Heard a lot of good stuff about Joey Ortiz this spring and he’s lived up to it in the first week of the season with Aberdeen.   In 27 PA he’s hit .348/.444/.565.    Worth keeping an eye on!

[LookinUp]

Hitting clean up too I believe.

[Tony-OH]

I wish Aberdeen's games were on MiLB but unfortunately they were not so we only have the stats to go off of for them. He's certainly got off to nice to start. it's worth noting that he got 4 of the 6 starts at SS with hall getting the other two. 

Not sure if something was bothering Hall, but he only played in 4 of the 6 games. I also found it a bit surprising that Graffanino did not play any SS but played 2B and 3B.

Either way, for the 1st week, Ortiz seems to be the priority play at SS.

 

[Frobby]

3 for 4 tonight to raise his average to .407.

[LTO's]

On 5/11/2021 at 10:50 PM, Frobby said:

3 for 4 tonight to raise his average to .407.

Recently got a shout out from Keith Law as well. As an Orioles prospect that’s how you know you’ve made it. 

[jabba72]

Ortiz with his 4th HR for AA Bowie, OPS now 940.  

[wildcard]

He has a ways to go yet but he could be the O's starting SS next season.

[Aristotelian]

Any reports on his defense? MLB website has him 55 defense and 55 arm, is that about right? 

He's going to have some competition for middle infield. I could see cases for Grenier and Leyba, plus potentially Vavra. This might be the year we don't need to shop for a Galvis/Iglesias type of veteran.

Both Grenier and Ortiz have only 1 error on the season, Leyba has 0. 

Vavra has cooled off but still has a nice .402 OBP and .850 OPS. Appears Ortiz has pushed him to CF for now so that narrows the possibilities down. But OH has him #7 in latest power ranking. 

And that's not even counting Westburg and Henderson. Plus Jahmai and Bannon, who some thought might make it to the big club this year. Will be interesting to watch these guys in the Power Rankings throughout the season. 

[MurphDogg]

15 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Any reports on his defense? MLB website has him 55 defense and 55 arm, is that about right? 

He's going to have some competition for middle infield. I could see cases for Grenier and Leyba, plus potentially Vavra. This might be the year we don't need to shop for a Galvis/Iglesias type of veteran.

Both Grenier and Ortiz have only 1 error on the season, Leyba has 0. 

Vavra has cooled off but still has a nice .402 OBP and .850 OPS. Appears Ortiz has pushed him to CF for now so that narrows the possibilities down. But OH has him #7 in latest power ranking. 

And that's not even counting Westburg and Henderson. Plus Jahmai and Bannon, who some thought might make it to the big club this year. Will be interesting to watch these guys in the Power Rankings throughout the season. 

MLB's website is definitely high on his defense, with this sparkling quote

Quote

By that point, Ortiz had already established himself as one of the, if not the best, defensive prospects in the organization. He’s a true shortstop, with a good clock, strong hands, slick actions and natural ability to read balls off the bat. He has a plus arm that’s improved since his college days, and enough athleticism to move around the diamond if the bat doesn’t mature as hoped.

I didn't realize that his defense was considered that strong.

He will definitely be shooting up the Orioles prospect lists this year. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the 5-10 range by the end of the season.

Most 2019 draftees were real wild cards coming into the season, no real sense of how the missed year would affect them, and no real track record to go off of.

 

[Ruzious]

And he's one I think they're handling right - being 22 in AA.  Interesting that all 4 of his homers were at Bowie even though he had 30 more at bats at Aberdeen.  Are balls not travelling out in Aberdeen?  

[Aristotelian]

And they have Ortiz playing SS with Grenier at 2B and Vavra CF. So that says something about the current pecking order at Bowie at least. 5 games at SS, 2 each at 2B/3B since moved up to Bowie. 

[MurphDogg]

3 minutes ago, Ruzious said:

And he's one I think they're handling right - being 22 in AA.  Interesting that all 4 of his homers were at Bowie even though he had 30 more at bats at Aberdeen.  Are balls not travelling out in Aberdeen?  

Aberdeen is tied for last in the league in homers.

I can't find team home/road splits, but of the players with more than 2 homers (Watson, Stowers, Daschbach and Rizer), only 4 of their 14 homers have been hit at home. 

Need more information, but it sure seems like Aberdeen may be tamping down home runs.

[MurphDogg]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

And they have Ortiz playing SS with Grenier at 2B and Vavra CF. So that says something about the current pecking order at Bowie at least. 5 games at SS, 2 each at 2B/3B since moved up to Bowie. 

It has been a true split at short between Ortiz and Grenier.

Ortiz has played 5 games at short and Grenier has played 6 in the 11 games since Ortiz has joined the team.

Vavra was not thought to have the glove to be anything more than an emergency shortstop in the Majors.

[Sports Guy]

@Tony-OH what are you hearing about Ortiz?  How real is this guy in the eyes of the organization?

[Ruzious]

(2) The Verge- An Orioles MiLB Podcast on Twitter: "Joey Ortiz flashing more leather today! https://t.co/6NMjHfsqOI" / Twitter

Impressive throw after ranging quickly to his right and maintaining body control.