Note: The Orioles called up Joey Ortiz from Norfolk on April 27.
The Orioles selected shortstop Joey Ortiz out of New Mexico State in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Draft. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound shortstop began the 2023 season at Triple-A Norfolk and entered the campaign as a career .271/.349/.425 minor league hitter.
Norfolk manager Buck Britton and former New Mexico State baseball coach Brian Green chatted with PressBox about the 24-year-old Ortiz.
PressBox: What makes Ortiz special? What sets him apart?
Buck Britton: What sets him apart just right away is the glove. This guy’s got a chance to be an impact defender at shortstop in the big leagues, which is obviously really nice to have. You throw around competitor, you throw around guys that work hard, but this guy made a physical change during that COVID season in 2020. He wasn’t invited to any alternate site. He was at home. He came back in ‘21, and he put on about 15 pounds of muscle. This guy really transformed his body. He got a lot more physical. Last year, he exploded on the scene with the bat, and he gave himself a chance. He got put on the [40-man] roster, and this is a guy you’re going to see get a chance to play in the big leagues. I’m excited for him.
PB: What’s your favorite Ortiz story?
Brian Green: My favorite baseball story of Ortiz is real simple. The team had gone through some discipline the day before on a Monday. We were going to Texas Tech on a Tuesday. We drove to I think it was Midland, Texas, for a game against Tech. We had really disciplined [all of the players]. And Joey will remember this if you talk to him, but I remember Joey walking into the stadium and he was walking on his heels and he couldn’t walk. He was so sore because we had run them so much. … He’s walking in the stadium on his heels, and then he went out and went like 3-for-4, made two diving plays and as soon as the game started there was nothing about, “Oh, I’m sore,” or any of that. It’s, “I’m going to compete my ass off.” That’s probably my favorite baseball story of his just in terms of the type of kid he is — just a total work ethic, grinder, team guy.
PB: Was there a moment when you realized Ortiz was going to be special?
BG: I think honestly it was his freshman year. I don’t know if it was a specific moment. It may have been his first game. We had a senior captain at third. … Trey Stine, our captain, gets hurt in [the second game of the season]. We put Ortiz over there. Ortiz hadn’t taken a ground ball at third base. He starts at third base. I remember there were two in-between hops that he just came and got with one hand and flipped it over like he was a junior. I think the fact of what he did that freshman season, he hit [.289] but it was the defense and the poise and the skills. Three errors at third base as a freshman in college baseball is just unheard of. That’s when I felt like we had a special dude, but I would tell you the sophomore fall when he came back after summer baseball and he was playing shortstop, that was when you knew. It was like, “Holy shit, this guy’s a special shortstop.” I didn’t see that coming in recruiting. I thought [he was an] offensive second baseman. The arm strength then improved over the summer, the glove skills were what they were and it was like, “This dude’s going to be the best shortstop in the league.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Orioles
Originally published April 19, 2023. Updated April 27, 2023