José Daniel Ortiz Santos (born June 13, 1977) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

and

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

and in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) for the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

, and

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway ...

Career

Early career and MLB debut

Ortiz was originally signed by the

as an amateur free agent in . After spending several seasons in the minors, he had a breakout season in , winning the

Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player Award The Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual award given to the best player in Minor League Baseball's Pacific Coast League based on their regular-season performance as voted on by league managers. From 1932 to 1947, the ...

while playing for the A's Triple-A farm club, the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland ...

. That earned him a September call-up to the majors, where he played in seven games for Oakland.

2001: Becoming a major league regular

Before the 2001 season, ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'' ranked him the best prospect in Oakland's farm system and the 34th-best prospect in baseball. Ortiz started the year in Oakland, but was returned to the minor leagues two weeks later after batting .179 in his first 11 games. After a second brief call-up in May Ortiz was traded to the

on July 25 as part of a package that brought Jermaine Dye to Oakland. Ortiz was installed as the Rockies starting second baseman, replacing Todd Walker (who had been traded to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

). Ortiz batted .255 the rest of the way, with 13 home runs in just 204

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s in 53 games.

2002: Sophomore slump?

Ortiz opened the season as the Rockies' starter at second again, but his power numbers declined substantially. By mid-June, while he was hitting .244, Ortiz had just one home run through the same number of games (53) in which he'd hit 13 home runs the year before. Ortiz was sent down to the Triple-A

Colorado Springs Sky Sox The Colorado Springs Sky Sox were a Minor League Baseball team in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The team played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and was the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers (2015–2018), Colorado R ...

and was replaced at second by Brent Butler. After hitting .333 with 6 home runs in 26 minor league games, Ortiz was brought back up in September. He hit .281 in 12 games down the stretch, but failed to hit a home run the rest of the year.

Off to Japan

Ortiz was not offered a contract by the Rockies after the season, and rather than catch on with another major league club, Ortiz signed with the

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

of the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

. On March 28, , Ortiz hit a home run in his first at bat in Japan, and on May 3 he

hit for the cycle Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization ...

against the

Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, ...

. He finished 2003 with 33 home runs for the BlueWave, batting .255 and driving in 86 runs in 127 games. Ortiz returned to the BlueWave for , and he increased his batting average to .289. However, his power totals declined, as he dropped to 24 home runs in 128 games. After the season, the BlueWave merged with the

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Sta ...

to become the

, and Ortiz was not retained for by the new team.

Independent ball and back to Japan

Without a team in Japan or the majors, Ortiz signed with the

Lancaster Barnstormers The Lancaster Stormers (formerly known as the Lancaster Barnstormers) is an American professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner l ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

. He played two seasons with Lancaster in and . In , Ortiz returned to Japan with the

, where he batted .309 with 7 home runs in 67 games. He returned to the Marines in , batting .288 with 11 home runs in 100 games. His contract was not renewed by the Marines, and so he started the season as a free agent. In May, the

came calling, needing a power bat in the lineup to protect aging left-handed slugger

Nobuhiko Matsunaka is a former left fielder and designated hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He is currently the hitting coach for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league. He played in the Baseball at the 1996 Summer Olympics, 199 ...

References

External links

Japanese baseball statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Jose 1977 births Living people Acereros de Monclova players Arizona League Athletics players Chiba Lotte Marines players Colorado Rockies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Japan Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Mexico Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players Huntsville Stars players Lancaster Barnstormers players Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball second basemen Mexican League baseball right fielders Mexican League baseball second basemen Mexican League baseball third basemen Modesto A's players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Oakland Athletics players Orix BlueWave players Pacific Coast League MVP award winners Sacramento River Cats players Saitama Seibu Lions players Saraperos de Saltillo players Vancouver Canadians players