Luis Ortiz Named Indians April Player of the Month

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indianapolis Indians today named right-handed starting pitcher Luis Ortiz as their April Player of the Month. He currently ranks among International League leaders in ERA, WHIP and batting average against.

Ortiz, 24, is currently rated as the No. 68 prospect in Minor League Baseball and Pittsburgh’s fourth-best farmhand by Baseball America. He made his season debut on March 31 as Indianapolis’ Opening Day starter and ranks among IL leaders in WHIP (3rd, 0.94), batting average against (3rd, .169) and ERA (4th, 2.31) in 23.1 innings across five starts.

In his most recent start on April 23 at Memphis, Ortiz allowed two earned runs across 6.0 innings to earn his first win of the season and record Indy’s first quality start. It was his second consecutive outing of at least 5.0 innings, following his appearance of 5.0 shutout innings to open the series at Memphis on April 18. In Game 1 of a doubleheader at Louisville on April 6, he fanned a season-high seven batters over 4.2 innings.

Ortiz was originally signed by Pittsburgh as a non-drafted free agent on Oct. 2, 2018 out of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. He had his contract selected from Indianapolis on Sept. 13, 2022 and tossed 5.2 one-hit innings in his major league debut in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Cincinnati later that day.