Jared Mortensen

Jared Paul Mortensen

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 205 lb.
• School Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Mount Olive College
• High School WJ Mouat Secondary School

• Born June 1, 1988 in Abbotsford, BC Canada

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Jared Mortensen has pitched in the minors (peaking at AAA), Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Canada, France, the Netherlands and Germany and for Team Canada.

Mortensen finished 4th in LSU Shreveport history in strikeouts (257) and tied for 5th in wins (21). He opened 2013 with the independent Grand Prairie AirHogs, going 4-6 with a 3.77 ERA. Tampa Bay Rays scout Matthew Hahn signed him as an undrafted free agent and he finished the year with the Charlotte Stone Crabs (8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 18 K in 17 1/3 IP, 2-0).

The right-hander split 2014 between Charlotte (2-1, 2.93) and the Montgomery Biscuits (5-1, 5.73). He opened 2015 stronger with the Biscuits (5-3, 3.43, 1.11 WHIP) then made his debut with Team Canada as a starter in a win over Colombia in the 2015 Pan American Games. He lost a game against Team USA, Canada's lone loss of the tournament as they got Gold. He was 1-1 with a 5.91 ERA as the only member of the rotation not to have MLB experience; Canada's other starters were Chris Leroux, Phillippe Aumont, Shawn Hill and Jeff Francis. For the summer, he was 7-5 with a 3.78 ERA for the Biscuits and 2-0 for the Durham Bulls as he made it to AAA. He tied for 6th in the Rays chain in wins. In the 2015 Premier 12, he beat Luis Lugo and Italy. Kyle Lotzkar closed it up after Jared went seven scoreless. Only Shohei Ohtani threw more innings in the event without allowing a run.

That winter, he was 0-2 with a 5.28 ERA for the Dominican Leones del Escogido. Back with the Biscuits in 2016, he fell to 7-7, 5.23. He battled major control issues with 57 BB, 17 HB and 38 WP in 72 1/3 IP. He tied for 4th in the Southern League in walks, hit five more batters than runner-up Aaron Slegers and had 23 more wild pitches than runner-up Billy Buckner. He easily led all minor leaguers in wild pitches, 7 more than Adonis Santana and Lukas Schiraldi. A highlight was a combined no-hitter of the Jackson Generals, following Steve Ascher and succeeded by Jordan Harrison and Kyle Winkler. He allowed one run in 3 1/3 IP for Venezuela's Navegantes del Magallanes in the winter. The Houston Astros took him in the minor league portion of the 2016 Rule 5 Draft.

In 2017, the entire 2015 Canadian National Team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame for their Gold Medal in the Pan American Games. He struggled with the Fresno Grizzlies (10 H, 10 R, 7 ER in 4 2/3 IP) and was let go. He then pitched for the independent Texas AirHogs (8-1, 2.57 in 15 G) and Kansas City T-Bones (10 R in 12 IP). He split 2018 between two American Association teams, the Cleburne Railroaders (4-5, 4.01 in 17 G) and the T-Bones (0-1, 6.14 in 4 G). In the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier, he relieved Aumont in the second against Colombia but allowed five hits (two homers) and six runs (two earned) in two innings before turning it over to Jasvir Rakkar in his team's 8-6 loss. His other outing, he closed out a loss to Nicaragua by retiring Darrel Campbell. They still made the 2019 Pan American Games, though he did not accompany them for that event.

During the summer of 2019, he was 7-8 with a 3.96 ERA for the Ottawa Champions in his native Canada. Many leagues did not operate in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic so he did not have any opportunities. In 2021, he pitched for Les Capitales de Québec (2-1, 5.73 in 4 G) and France's Templiers de Sénart. He was 1-0 in the 2021 CEB Cup, beating Draci Brno and Radim Chroust with a complete game, 13-K, 2-run effort. He was 5th in the event in whiffs. He allowed only two hits in 11 regular-season innings for the Templiers, striking out 16.

Mortensen spent most of 2022 with Germany's Heidenheim Heideköpfe. He had a no-decision in an upset win over the Amsterdam Pirates but lost to the Arrows Ostrava and Alec Lemmon the next time out in the 2022 European Champions Cup, finishing with a 4.35 ERA. He again had 13 K in a European tournament, enough to lead the event by 3 (over former major leaguer Juan Jaime, Zach Dodson and Fernando Baez). His 10 1/3 IP were second behind Kaj Timmermans. He was 8-0 with a 1.25 ERA in the German regular season, finishing among the Bundesliga-1 south leaders in complete games (3, tied for 3rd), innings (79, 3rd, behind Josh Wyant and Zac Treece), whiffs (101, 2nd, 4 behind Kaleb Bowman; he only walked 12 as his 2016 control issues were a blip from his usual performance), wins (tied Christian Pedrol and Bowman for first) and ERA (2nd, .44 behind Bowman). He then reinforced HCAW in the Netherlands for the 2022 Holland Series, helping them upset Neptunus. He saved Lars Huijer's Game 1 win and Jim Ploeger's Game 3 win, pitching two shutout innings (2 H, 2 K) combined.

He played one game in right field for HCAW in the 2023 Hoofdklasse but was mostly back in Germany. He was 11-0 with a 1.41 ERA for Heidenheim, ranking among the leaders in complete games (4, 1st), IP (70, 1st), strikeouts (90, 1st, 23 ahead of #2 Dustin Ward), wins (1st by 4 ahead of Yannic Wildenhain and Mike Bolsenbroek) and ERA (2nd, .82 behind Bolsenbroek). He starred in the finale when he whiffed 13 to beat Mark Harrison and Regensburg Legionäre as Heidenheim won it all. He won MVP of the Bundesliga-1 South.