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| José Ortiz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Second baseman | |
| Born: (1977-06-13)June 13, 1977 (age 48) Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| Professional debut | |
| MLB: September 15, 2000, for the Oakland Athletics | |
| NPB: March 28, 2003, for the Orix BlueWave | |
| Last appearance | |
| MLB: September 27, 2002, for the Colorado Rockies | |
| NPB: May 28, 2013, for the Saitama Seibu Lions | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .243 |
| Home runs | 14 |
| Runs batted in | 51 |
| NPB statistics | |
| Batting average | .271 |
| Home runs | 135 |
| Runs batted in | 433 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
José Daniel Ortiz Santos (born June 13, 1977) is a Dominican former professional baseball player. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theOakland Athletics andColorado Rockies and inNippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for theOrix Buffaloes,Chiba Lotte Marines,Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, andSaitama Seibu Lions.
Ortiz was originally signed by theOakland Athletics as an amateur free agent in1994. After spending several seasons in the minors, he had a breakout season in2000, winning thePacific Coast League Most Valuable Player Award while playing for the A's Triple-A farm club, theSacramento River Cats. That earned him a September call-up to the majors, where he played in seven games for Oakland.
Before the 2001 season,Baseball America ranked him the best prospect in Oakland's farm system and the 34th-best prospect in baseball.[1]
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 theColorado Rockies on July 25 as part of a package that broughtJermaine Dye to Oakland.[2] Ortiz was installed as the Rockies starting second baseman, replacingTodd Walker (who had been traded to theCincinnati Reds). Ortiz batted .255 the rest of the way, with 13 home runs in just 204at bats in 53 games.
Ortiz opened the2002 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-AColorado Springs Sky Sox and was replaced at second byBrent 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.
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 theOrix BlueWave of theJapanesePacific League. On March 28,2003, Ortiz hit a home run in his first at bat in Japan, and on May 3 hehit for the cycle against theSeibu Lions. 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 for2004, 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 theKintetsu Buffaloes to become theOrix Buffaloes, and Ortiz was not retained for2005 by the new team.
Without a team in Japan or the majors, Ortiz signed with theLancaster Barnstormers of theAtlantic League of Professional Baseball. He played two seasons with Lancaster in2005 and2006. In2007, Ortiz returned to Japan with theChiba Lotte Marines, where he batted .309 with 7 home runs in 67 games. He returned to the Marines in2008, 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, theFukuoka SoftBank Hawks came calling, needing a power bat in the lineup to protect aging left-handed sluggerNobuhiko Matsunaka.
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