Ortiz slugged .771 with 34 homers in his two years at Walters State CC in Tennessee and showed out nicely in separate stints in the Appalachian (2023) and MLB Draft Leagues (2024) to establish himself on the Draft radar. The Cardinals took him in the 16th round and dipped a little into their bonus pool to make him a JUCO signing for $200,000. Ortiz ripped through the Florida State League in his first full season with a .285/.406/.446 line and 10 homers in 77 games and produced a .938 OPS over 30 contests with High-A Peoria following a July promotion.
The 6-foot-1 right-handed slugger has an interesting stance at the plate that starts with him leaning back and then launching forward with a leg kick. It’s a swing designed for contact in the air, and his 29.7 percent line-drive rate was highest among Cardinals full-season qualifiers, while his 29.3 percent ground-ball rate was lowest. His 105.3 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity in the FSL was also comfortably above average, and Ortiz could be a threat to hit 20+ homers pretty easily if trends hold. Ortiz was beatable with good velocity and sliders in the zone, however, and that will be a more worrisome trend against better arms in the upper Minors.
The Puerto Rico native ran subpar sprint speeds in the FSL but picked his spots well against Single-A catchers, going 31-for-34 in steal attempts there. (That dropped to 8-for-14 in the Midwest League, perhaps a better sign of what to expect.) The Cardinals believe Ortiz has enough athleticism to keep getting looks at third base, where his above-average arm strength fits, but have already mixed in plenty of first. It’s likely he lands down the defensive spectrum and needs to keep his offensive production high to be valuable.
Ortiz hit .387/.535/.771 with 34 homers over two seasons at Walters State (Tenn.) CC, sprinkling in summer stints in the Appalachian (2023) and MLB Draft (2024) Leagues to help boost his stock. He went to the Cardinals in the 16th round last year and signed for $200,000 ($50,000 of which counted toward St. Louis’ bonus pool). The right-handed slugger opened his first full season at Single-A Palm Beach and proved to be one of the Florida State League’s most prolific hitters in 2025 with a .294/.406/.446 slash line and 10 homers in 77 games before his promotion to High-A Peoria in late July.
Ortiz can look like he’s leaning back to begin his stance before thrusting himself forward with a leg kick. That produces enough kinetic energy to play into the strength of his 6-foot-1, 230-pound frame and generates pullside launch. His 105.3 mph 90th-percentile exit velocity ranked highly in the FSL, as did his 49.3 percent hard-hit and 12.5 percent barrel rates. Perhaps because of the movement, Ortiz can be susceptible to higher velocities, and while he doesn’t chase much, his in-zone contact rate is subpar, though that’s less of a worry given the thunder when he does put bat to ball.
A below-average runner who didn’t post a Sprint Speed above 26.6 ft/sec in the FSL, the Puerto Rico native has picked his baserunning spots very well in the early going, and that savviness could treat him well even without wheels. He has enough arm strength for third base, but he’s also mixed in a heavy dose of first this season. The Cardinals believe he has enough athleticism to keep getting looks at the hot corner, but if he needs to move across the diamond full-time, he will need to maintain this level of power production to meet the position’s high offensive threshold.
