Luis Ortiz (ortizlu03)

Luis Leandro Ortiz

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 240 lb.

• Debut September 13, 2022

• Born January 27, 1999 in San Pedro de Macoris, San Pedro de Macoris D.R.

BR page

Biographical Information

Luis Ortiz debuted in the majors in 2022.

He was signed by Pittsburgh Pirates scout Junior Vizcaino in October 2018. He skipped the Dominican Summer League, debuting with the Bristol Pirates and going 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA. The 2020 minor league season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, he was 5-3 with a 3.09 ERA for the Bradenton Marauders, fanning 113 in 87 1/3 IP. He was four strikeouts behind league leader Adrian Florencio and second in the Pirates chain (again four behind Florencio).

Ortiz began 2022 with the Altoona Curve, going 5-9 with a 4.64 ERA but 126 K in 114 1/3 IP. He was promoted to the Indianapolis Indians and struck out 12 in 10 innings there, giving up four hits. He then got called up to The Show for a brief glance, as the Bucs figured he would join the 40-man roster that off-season anyways. He made an impressive major league debut for the 2022 Pirates, throwing six pitches of 100+ mph; Gerrit Cole was the only other Pirates starter to hit the century mark before, having done so 33 times in a five-year period with the club. He allowed only one hit (to Stuart Fairchild) and three walks while fanning five in 5 1/3 shutout innings before Chase De Jong took over. It was the best debut by a Pirates starter since Nick Kingham; the Bucs obviously hoped he would pan out better than Kingham.

When he reached the majors, there was already another pitcher named Luis Ortiz, active in the majors since 2018. In order to differentiate the two, he is sometimes called "Luis L. Ortiz", after his middle name (the other one has the middle name Francisco).

Related Sites

• Luis L. Ortiz on mlb.com