It has grow to be a part of franchise lore that Mike Piazza was not the primary catcher chosen by the Los Angeles Dodgers within the 1988 draft. The longer term Corridor of Famer was the final participant the Dodgers took at any place.
Hector Ortiz, chosen within the thirty fifth spherical, was the one different catcher from the Dodgers’ 1988 draft class to achieve the majors. He appeared in components of 4 seasons (1998-2002) with the Kansas Metropolis Royals and Texas Rangers, and loved a reasonably lengthy post-playing profession as a coach within the Rangers’ group.
Ortiz died Wednesday after an extended battle with most cancers, the Rangers introduced.
Ortiz superior as excessive as Triple-A in two separate stints with the Dodgers group. Though he was bypassed by Piazza on the organizational depth chart, Ortiz caught many future Dodgers pitchers on the Triple-A stage in 1994 and 1995.
After the 1995 season, Ortiz was not re-signed as a minor league free agent and latched on with the Chicago Cubs. After briefly showing within the main leagues with the Royals in 1998, Ortiz re-signed with the Dodgers for the 1999 season. He cut up that 12 months between Double-A and Triple-A, taking part in alongside future Dodgers Eric Gagne, Paul Lo Duca, Juan Castro and Alex Cora, amongst others.
Because the supervisor of the Class-A Hickory Crawdads in 2009, Ortiz oversaw the event of three future Dodgers pitchers: Joe Wieland, Fabio Castillo, and Wilmer Font.
When Chris Woodward left the Dodgers to handle the Texas Rangers in 2019, he named Ortiz his first base coach, retaining Ortiz in a job he’d held since 2015.
Dodgers Nation sends its condolences to Ortiz’s household and associates.
Picture Credit score: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports activities
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