Luis Ortiz
Luis Ortiz, the former 2014 first-round pick, had been through a long and daunting journey in his baseball career before finally getting a little taste of success last season with the Phillies. Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants back during the 2022-23 offseason, Ortiz was called up in mid-April last year to take the place of McKinley Moore in the Phillies’ bullpen. He ended up making just eight appearances before being optioned back down to the minors one month later.
For the rest of the 2023 season, Ortiz was occasionally brought up for spot bullpen duty, but never really maintained a permanent gig throughout the year. In the end, Ortiz still put together some decent numbers in his limited time with the team, posting a 3.32 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 19 innings pitched. However, he was prone to contact, giving up a total of 23 hits.
This year, Ortiz had a strong spring showing in which he pitched to a solid 2.70 ERA and 0.80 WHIP with 10 strikeouts in 10 innings pitched over nine games. He earned one of the last spots in the Phillies’ bullpen on the Opening Day roster.
However, in his season debut, Ortiz gave up two earned runs on three hits in just 2/3 innings of work before landing on the IL with a left ankle sprain following the game. With the prolific Orion Kerkering looking to make his return to the Phillies’ pen soon and the emergence of Spencer Turnbull, who could also be moved to the bullpen when starter Taijuan Walker rejoins the rotation, there could be no spot remaining for Ortiz but the minors when he comes off the IL.
Sending Ortiz down would make sense for the Phillies since he still has minor league options remaining.