4 Phillies players who don’t deserve to be on the 40-man roster
By Edward Eng
Luis Ortiz
Luis Ortiz was claimed off waivers by the Phillies from the San Francisco Giants during the 2022-23 offseason. As a former first-round pick from the 2014 MLB Draft, Ortiz has been a massive disappointment thus far in his MLB career.
After middling in the minor leagues for multiple seasons, Ortiz finally made his highly-anticipated debut in 2018 with the Baltimore Orioles. He played in only two games in September and struggled mightily in the process, giving up six runs on seven hits with three walks and no strikeouts in just 2 1/3 innings pitched. He would go on to spend the majority of his time in minors in the following years before finally joining the Phillies last year.
In 2023, Ortiz yo-yoed up and down between the minors and majors throughout the year. Whenever he was called upon, he managed to deliver solid results with a 3.32 ERA, but with a more gaudy 1.47 WHIP. However, he was rarely used in high-leverage situations.
The fact that the Phillies didn’t keep him up with the big league club despite their bullpen struggling in the early parts of the season showed that they didn’t really trust what Ortiz had to offer. Perhaps some of that doubt could be explained by his stints last year in the minors when he pitched to a 4.60 ERA in 33 appearances.
With the rise of Orion Kerkering as an elite bullpen option this past season, along with the recent additions this offseason with Mercado and Rucker, Ortiz could fall even further down the organizational depth chart as a result.
Surprisingly, fellow pitching teammate Andrew Bellatti was recently designated for assignment and taken off the 40-man roster despite having performed much better than Ortiz in the minors this past season and in the majors the season prior. So if Bellatti inexplicably doesn’t belong there, Ortiz shouldn’t either.