Biloxi Shuckers RHP healthy, ready to live up to the hype

For every minor league baseball player getting that eventual call up to the show is a two-part equation, one part talent, and one part health. The former has always been there for Biloxi Shuckers right-handed pitcher Luiz Ortiz, but the latter cost him a major portion of what was shaping up to be a breakthrough season.

Last night, Ortiz showed how absolutely dominant he can be on the mound with an injury-riddled 2017 now on the backburner.

Luis Ortiz is the fifth-ranked prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers farm system, but last season you wouldn’t have known that. “The main key to stay on the field is staying healthy, which I haven’t done a good part of.”

Last year, Ortiz was off and rolling is his first ten starts in which he allowed two or fewer runs in seven of those outings, but by the time June rolled around, he found himself on the disabled list with a bum hamstring and he was never the same. Shuckers Manager Mike Guerrero said, “He actually had a big part of the season was really good, and then he started catching bad breaks out there with health.”

“It was really tough coming back from a hamstring injury where it wasn’t fully recovered on my end from not keeping the honest truth with the trainer on it.”

Although it wouldn’t require any more time on the DL, Ortiz says he pulled his hamstring two more times throughout the course of the season and that still wasn’t the end of it. Misfortune would strike again when he contracted a case of hand-foot-and mouth disease from his son, Santiago. “It was tough last year, and then my son getting me sick was even worse. So it was just a season where it just all went downhill, and I think it was a season to get out of the books. And we’re all going to have a season where it’s going to be injuries to a bad year to anything, so I’ve just got to flip the page. Let’s go, let’s roll.”

That’s exactly what the former first round pick of the Texas Rangers back in 2014 has done so far in 2018. After allowing two runs in the first inning of his first start, Ortiz is now riding a streak of ten scoreless frames. Evidence as to why many scouts consider him the organization’s top pitching prospect behind former Shuckers Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. “For me, it’s staying healthy. Pitching, pitching is what got me drafted, what I do, I’m talented. It’s just mainly the skill level, meeting the requirements on that.”

“He needs to stay healthy out there. He needs to stay healthy and be able to be consistent 142 games a season and be able to perform, perform well enough to that when you look at him then you can say okay, he’s ready for the next level for the big leagues.”

Last night, Ortiz struck out eight M-Braves, matching his career-high in the Double AA ranks. He’ll take his next turn in the rotation next week in Mobile against the Bay Bears.