SF Giants promote former first-round pick Luis Ortiz, option Bryce Johnson

The SF Giants added another arm to bolster their tired bullpen, promoting right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz and optioning outfielder Bryce Johnson.
SF Giants promote former first-round pick Luis Ortiz, option Bryce Johnson
SF Giants promote former first-round pick Luis Ortiz, option Bryce Johnson /
In this story:

The SF Giants added right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz to their big-league roster on Wednesday, optioning outfielder Bryce Johnson to Triple-A Sacramento to create a spot for another arm. The Giants bullpen is in a tough spot after a bullpen game in Tuesday's 6-3 loss and a doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow. Ortiz was not on the 40-man roster, but he fills the spot created by designating Andrew Knapp for assignment yesterday.

Ortiz signed a minor-league contract with the Giants last offseason. He has spent all year at Triple-A Sacramento, where the 26-year-old righty has primarily worked out of the bullpen (four starts in 32 appearances). Across 63.2 innings pitched, Ortiz has a middling 4.66 ERA, but an excellent strikeout-to-walk rate of 69-to-12.

Ortiz's arsenal features a four-seam fastball, slider, curveball, and sinker. However, he almost exclusively throws his four-seamer, which sits in the mid-90s, and slider during his outings. As has been quite common among Giants pitchers, Ortiz has thrown his slider more than his fastball in several outings.

SF Giants pitcher Luis Ortiz throws a pitch during his stint with the Orioles.
Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Ortiz was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2014 MLB draft out of Sanger High School in California, located east of Fresno. Ortiz's career got off to a tremendous start, reaching Double-A before his 20th birthday. In fact, he was a consensus top-100 prospect in the minor leagues from 2016-2017.

Ortiz was actually traded with recent Giants acquisition Lewis Brinson to the Brewers for Jonathan Lucroy at the 2016 deadline. However, Ortiz struggled developing his secondary offerings as a starter and had issues with conditioning that stalled his development. A couple of years later, the Brewers traded Ortiz alongside another prospect to the Orioles for infielder Jonathan Schoop.

Once he joined the Orioles' organization, Ortiz was a mainstay in their Triple-A rotation, receiving a pair of short big-league stints from 2018-2019. He completed 5.2 innings pitched in three appearances, allowing 11 hits, 10 runs, and eight walks.

Johnson was recalled from the minors earlier this week when the Giants placed Alex Wood on the injured list. During his latest stint in the bigs, Johnson finally recorded his first big-league hit. He now has a .067/.125/.067 line in 16 plate appearances with the Giants this season. At Triple-A, Johnson has a .290/.371/.401 triple-slash this season.

Given Ortiz's track record as a starter, the SF Giants will likely use him as a much-needed long reliever over the next couple of days. Without an off day for more than a week, San Francisco will need every inning they can get from Luis Ortiz to keep their best relievers as fresh as possible.


Published
Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).