2018 Brew Crew Ball community top prospects in review: Luis Ortiz

Picking back up our 2018 Brew Crew Ball community prospects review, we move to yet another prospect who is no longer with the farm system, Luis Ortiz.

Luis Ortiz, RHP
AA Biloxi Shuckers: 68 IP, 3.71 ERA, 1.191 WHIP, 65 K
AAA Norfolk Tides: 31.2 IP, 3.69 ERA, 1.326 WHIP, 21 K
Baltimore Orioles: 2.1 IP, 15.43 ERA, 4.286 WHIP, 0 K

Luis Ortiz was one of my favorite pitchers in the Milwaukee Brewers’ organization. He located well, had an arsenal of above-average pitchers, threw hard and worked quickly. Ortiz has also mostly put up good numbers in the minors; however, the young righty is oft-injured and the injuries limit him to 100 innings or less in more cases than not. This season was no different for Ortiz.

Ortiz spent the final half-season of his Brewers tenure in Biloxi. There, he lived up to his career expectations. He went on two somewhat extended injury trips but pitched well when he was on the mound. He showed promise while healthy, workinng deep into games with high strikeout numbers and allowing few runs.

At the trade deadline, the Brewers ended up trading Ortiz, Jean Carmona and Jonathan Villar to Baltimore for Jonathan Schoop, a trade most of us regret in hindsight. Once in Baltimore, Ortiz was placed directly into AAA, where once again, he performed well. Well enough that the suffering Orioles decided to try him at the big league level. Ortiz followed his career story there too - after just two rough appearances, Ortiz was shut down for the rest of the season due to injury.

Ortiz was expendable to the Brewers for a few reasons. As I talked about, consistent injuries significantly limited his time on the field and his development, other pitching prospects were passing him up and creating significant depth on the mound, and Ortiz was Rule 5 eligible at the end of the season and would definitely had been claimed if he wasn’t put on the 40-man.

All I have to say now is good luck to the big man, and sorry you’re on the Orioles.