Russ Ortiz
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| San Francisco Giants — No. 48 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| April 2, 1998 for the San Francisco Giants | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2006) |
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| Record | 108-79 |
| ERA | 4.39 |
| Strikeouts | 1094 |
| Former teams | |
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Russell Reid Ortiz (born June 5, 1974 in Encino, California), is a Major League baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. Before returning to the Giants, Ortiz had previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves. He is 6'1" tall, and weighs 222 pounds.
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[edit] San Francisco Giants
The right-hander was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 4th round of the June 1995 free agent draft. He was drafted as a closer, but converted to the starting rotation while in the Giants' farm system. On April 2, 1998 Ortiz made his major league debut in relief, collecting four strikeouts over two innings. The rookie bounced all over the Giants pitching staff and between San Francisco and AAA Fresno, working in relief, out of the rotation and in the minors as injuries and inconsistency plagued the Giants rotation.
In 1999 Ortiz came into his own and held on to his spot in the Giant's rotation, jumping on the scene in the National League premier starters. His 18 wins was good for a tie of 4th in the N.L. and was in the top 10 in the senior circuit in a slew of other pitching statistics.
2000 was a tale of two seasons for Ortiz, as he was rocked hard before the All-Star break to a tune of 3 wins, 8 losses and 7.55 ERA falling out of favor with manager Dusty Baker. Injuries in the second half of the season gave Ortiz and opportunity to redeem himself, and the California native shined. His 10-4 record and 3.22 ERA after the mid-summer classic helped San Francisco into the National League playoffs, and Ortiz started Game 3 of 2000 NLDS versus the New York Mets.
Ortiz returned to form in 2001 owning a 17-9 record a solid 3.29 ERA, anchoring the pitching staff, for a competitive Giants squad. He also set career highs in innings (218.2 innings) and strikeouts (169).
2002 would prove to be another good effort on Ortiz's part as he and the Giants came within one game of a world championship. In between Ortiz had another stellar second half effort helping the Giants capture the 2002 NL Wild Card. His personal six-game winning streak down the stretch propelled San Francisco into the playoffs and Ortiz captured two more victories (with a 2.19 ERA) over Atlanta in the Division Series. He was not as successful however in the NLCS versus St. Louis surrendering four runs in 4.2 innings in Game 3 of that series. The World Series versus the Angels also featured two polar opposite games for the starter. The Halos shelled him for 7 runs in Game 2 of the World Series, as the Giants went on to lose 11-10. He returned to pitch the pivotal Game 6, and again redeemed himself working 6.1 innings of two-hit baseball. Manager Dusty Baker gave him the game ball when he took him out, assuming they would hold on to a 5-0 lead. The Angels came back to win the game by a final score of 6-5, and went on to win the World Series in 7 games.
[edit] Atlanta Braves
Ortiz landed on the trading block in the 2002 off-season and was dealt to Atlanta for pitchers Damian Moss and Merkin Valdéz on December 17, 2002. United with pitching guru Leo Mazzone, Ortiz put together a spectacular season, going 21-7 with a 3.81 ERA and collecting (to this point) his only All-Star nod. With Ortiz as staff ace, the Braves won their 12th consecutive N.L. East title, and Ortiz took fourth place in the NL Cy Young voting. In a demonstration of how far the pitcher had come, Ortiz pitched a 1-0 complete game shutout and knocked in the game's only run against the eventual world champion Florida Marlins. Ortiz lost Game 1 of the 2003 NLDS against Chicago however, but once again bounced back to win Game 4 and force a deciding Game 5 that Atlanta would lose.
Ortiz displayed more pitching prowess in 2004 helping Atlanta to another division title while collecting a 15-9 record, with a slightly inflated 4.19 ERA. Another stellar late season game came in Montréal on September 4, as Ortiz carried a perfect game into the 6th innings and allowed only two Expos to reach second base in the complete game 9-0 shutout. That improved Ortiz to 5-0 with 1.13 ERA against the Expos in 2004. Still Ortiz and the Braves could not advance past the first round of the playoffs as he was clobbered by Houston for 5 runs in 3 innings as the Houston Astros advanced.
[edit] Arizona Diamondbacks
Ortiz was on the move again in 2005, this time to Arizona as the Diamondbacks tried to overhaul their starting rotation and line-up after a 115 loss season the year before. Arizona's hefty four year, $33 million dollar deal lured the righty to the desert, but the pitcher who had never spent as much as a day on the disabled list in the previous seven seasons, battled a rib fracture after winning four of his first six games for the D-Backs. When he returned from the disabled list, Ortiz proceeded to lose six straight decisions and ended the year on a 1-9 slide.
2006 saw another injury (this time to his calf) and more poor pitching performances. On June 13, 2006 Ortiz was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks as he sunk to 0-5 with an ERA of 7.54. The five losses contributed to 1-14 mark from May 2005 to May 2006, and the Diamondbacks simply could not afford to allow Ortiz to work out his issues at the major league level. With nearly $22 million dollars and over two and half years remaining on the contract, Arizona's cut of Ortiz is thought to be the most expensive release in Major League Baseball history. [1]
[edit] Baltimore Orioles
On June 25, 2006, the Orioles signed Ortiz to a one-year deal. His first start for Baltimore and in the American League ended in a no decision on July 1 against one of his former clubs, the Atlanta Braves; but by the time the season ended, Ortiz had compiled a record of 0-8 with an ERA of 8.14.
To his credit,in 251 career games (241 starts) and 1,483.2 IP, Ortiz has 108 career wins to 76 losses, and an overall ERA of 4.28. He also has 1,072 career strikeouts to 773 walks. Ortiz is a decent batter (for a pitcher) with a .208 lifetime batting average and 96 hits in 462 at-bats. He also has 22 career doubles, 6 career home runs and 44 total RBIs. The pitcher also has a solid glove, committing only four errors in over 1,400 innings of work.
Ortiz was picked up by the Giants on January 9, 2007, and signed to a one-year contract to compete in spring training for the fifth starting position in the Giants' rotation. San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean noted that Ortiz while pitching winter ball in Puerto Rico showed both increased velocity and renewed movement in his pitches and was signed on that basis.
[edit] Scouting Report
The righty features a terrific changeup, a sharp breaking curveball and a fastball that tops out in the lows 90s. Ortiz relies on changing speeds with the fastball and the devastating change up to collect outs, but lacks pinpoint control of his pitches causing a high number of walks and number of pitches thrown.
[edit] College and High School
Ortiz attended Montclair Prep High School in Van Nuys, California before he continued on to the University of Oklahoma. In 1994, he pitched for a Sooners squad that would win the College World Series. In 38 innings he had 3 saves and 30 strikeouts.
[edit] Personal Life and Trivia
Ortiz resides in Mesa, Arizona, with his wife, Stacy, and two daughters, Grace Elaine and Lilian Reid.
In high school he was a teammate of future major league DH Brad Fullmer. Fullmer's Angels faced off against Ortiz's Giants in the 2002 World Series, and a 7th inning, Game 6 single by Fullmer chased Ortiz from the game (despite the Giants being up 5-0 at the time). Anaheim would rally to win the game 6-5 and eventually the World Series four games to three.
Allowed 10 runs in a game versus the Milwaukee Brewers on May 21, 2000. Despite the ten runs, Ortiz won the game as the Giants outslugged Milwaukee 16-10, making Ortiz the first pitcher since Bob Friend in 1954 to allow 10 or more runs and still earn a win.
Made his first career start July 20, 1998 versus Arizona, pitching to a no-decision. Earned his first career win August 5, 1998 at New York (NL).
Collected his 1,000 career strikeout September 24, 2004 by fanning then Florida second baseman Luis Castillo.
