Luis Ortiz

Dominican infielder Luis Ortiz forged a life in baseball. He began his career in pro ball in 1991 with the Boston Red Sox organization and made it to the top level with Boston in 1993. He got into 60 big-league games for the Red Sox and Texas Rangers from 1993 through 1996. Then after a brief stint in Japan, he played in the minors through 2004, also spending some time in indie ball and Mexico.

After his playing days ended, Ortiz became a coach. He released books and a DVD with hitting drills and ran a youth academy before returning to the professional ranks. More than 30 years after the Red Sox drafted him, he returned to work for the club once more. Boston named Ortiz assistant hitting instructor in December 2021.

Luis Alberto Ortiz Galarza was born in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, on May 25, 1970. His parents had both come from small towns in the southwestern part of the island, where it was difficult to get a good education, but both became accomplished professionals. His father, also named Luis Ortiz, came from Paraíso, Barahona. He became a lawyer, primarily working civil cases. Mother Isabel Galarza de Ortiz (from Enriquillo, Barahona) became a nurse. Luis was their first child. The couple had two other children – Federico, 11 months younger than Luis, who also became a lawyer in the Dominican, and Tania, who works in information technology. As of mid-2023 Tania has been living in Quebec for a few years.

Like many youngsters, Luis began by playing sandlot ball. His first organized baseball was in the Manny Mota League, in which he played until he was 15. He enrolled in De La Salle Dominican High School; in his senior year, the Latin Athletic Educational Fund helped him secure a scholarship to Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.1 The Fund – simply known as “the Foundation” – was the creation of a remarkable man named Don Odermann (1944-2017). In an August 2023 interview, Ortiz honored Odermann and said of the scholarship, “All the dominoes started with that.”2

When Ortiz was inducted into the Union University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, the university wrote: “Entering his senior year at De La Salle Dominican High School, he attended tryouts for talented baseball players who were looking to pursue a college degree in the United States. At this point, Luis realized after the tryouts that he could pursue his dream of a college education and potentially a professional baseball career. In the fall of 1988, Luis received a full athletic scholarship to Union University thanks to cultivation by Union baseball coach, Andy Rushing.”3 

Union was a Christian university affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Rushing was a supportive but demanding coach who once quipped, “I tell people that I basically ordered him out of a catalog.”4 He recruited Ortiz by asking the Foundation for a middle infielder who could bat leadoff, meeting him for the first time when Ortiz arrived in Jackson. Five years later, Rushing hopped onto a plane and made it to Boston in time to see Ortiz’s big-league debut.

While at Union, Ortiz set an NAIA record with a career slugging percentage of .911 over the years 1988-91. He was majoring in Management/Marketing, but left university when drafted by the Red Sox in June 1991 after his junior year, shortly after he had turned 21. Thirteen years later, he completed his studies and earned his university degree.

Ortiz was right-handed, and grew to become an even six feet tall, listed at 190 pounds. He was signed by Red Sox scout Milt Bolling; the team’s scouting director was Eddie Kasko. The first assignment for the eighth-round draft pick (#227 overall) was to rookie ball, playing for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox in Winter Haven, Florida. He played exclusively as a third baseman that season, although in years to come he would play frequently at first base. In 42 games he drove in 29 runs and had a batting average of .333 with an OPS of .882.

In 1992 Ortiz appeared in 94 games for the Lynchburg Red Sox (Class-A Carolina League) and hit .290 with 10 homers and 61 RBIs. The year was marred by a career-high 20 errors in just 57 games in the field; he often served as a DH.

During the winter of 1992-93, Ortiz played winter ball in his homeland for the first time. He spent that season and the next two with Estrellas Orientales. His playing time was scanty, though: a total of 14 games in which he hit .170 (9-for-53).

Ortiz was promoted all the way to Triple A in 1993 and played in 102 games for the Pawtucket Red Sox (International League), also known as the PawSox. Buddy Bailey managed both Lynchburg in 1992 and Pawtucket in 1993. Ortiz cut back on his errors while improving his average to .294 at the higher level, hitting 18 homers and driving in 81 runs. His 28 doubles led the team.

That production earned Ortiz a promotion to the big-league club; he was called up when pitcher Jeff Russell went on the disabled list on August 30. Ortiz made his major-league debut the very next day.5

It was a Tuesday night game at Fenway Park against the visiting Texas Rangers. Ortiz was the starter at third base, batting ninth. In his first time up, leading off the bottom of the third inning, he faced left-hander Kenny Rogers, a 16-game winner that year. Ortiz grounded out, second to first.

The Rangers had taken a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Ortiz came up a second time in the bottom of the fifth after a walk and sacrifice bunt and singled to left field, driving in Tim Naehring with the first and only run of the game for the Red Sox. Boston starter Roger Clemens was tagged for six runs and the Red Sox lost, 8-1. Ortiz came up once more, leading off the eighth inning with a single to right field off Rogers.

It was the only full big-league game for him that season. He appeared in eight other games, two as a defensive replacement and the other six as either a pinch-runner or pinch-hitter. He had just one other hit – a single on September 26 – and finished the season 3-for-12 (.250) with just the one RBI.

Before the 1993 season had gotten underway, Ortiz married a fellow Union University student, Susan Crecelius, whose major was Business. A native of the State of Washington, she had worked for a time as a paralegal and had thought about going into law, but the two had decided, in Luis’s words, that “our primary purpose in life was to be good parents.” They ultimately had four children – Gabriela, Naomi, Samantha, and Moriah – and Susan Ortiz became “a professional mom.”

In 1994, Ortiz spent most of the season with the PawSox, though he was called up to the Red Sox on May 26 and played in seven games through June 3, six as DH and the other as a pinch-hitter. Ortiz drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and a single vs. Cleveland on the 26th, and he stroked a double later in the game. Three days later, he doubled in a pair of runs in Texas. When returned to Pawtucket, he only had three hits in 18 at-bats (.167) but had six runs batted in.

In 81 games at Pawtucket, he hit .312 with 36 RBIs and an .805 OPS. In early December 1994, the Red Sox traded both Ortiz and Otis Nixon to the Texas Rangers for José Canseco.

During 1995 Ortiz split his time almost evenly between the American Association’s Triple-A Oklahoma City 89ers and the big-league Rangers. In 47 games with Oklahoma City, he batted .306; in 41 games with the big club he hit .232). He played third base for the Rangers in 35 of those games, with a fielding percentage of .867 in 60 chances.

Ortiz’s first game with the Rangers was on June 4 and was distinguished by his first major-league home run, leading off the fourth inning against Twins starter Eddie Guardado (the second to last time that “Everyday Eddie” ever started in the majors). It was Ortiz’ only home run that year, but he stuck with the Rangers the rest of the season and drove in 18 runs in his 41 games, batting .231.

Ortiz homered one other time in the majors, in game #162 (out of 163)6 of the 1996 season. Before being called up in September, he spent the full Triple-A season with Oklahoma City. He played first base for most of the year, batting .317 in 124 games with 14 homers and 73 RBIs.

His first two games after being called up to the Rangers were on September 19 and 20. He had pinch-hitting roles in those games, both fruitless, and then started in the season’s next-to-last game, going 2-for-5 with a triple and the home run. Ortiz finished the season 2-for-7 (.286), but the seven bases he accumulated on his two hits gave him a 1.000 slugging percentage.  Those three 1996 games with Texas proved to be his last games at the major-league level.

The Rangers released Ortiz in November but signed him again as a free agent on December 10. That same day, the Rangers sold his contract to the Yakult Swallows in Japan’s Central League.

Ortiz started the 1997 season with the Tokyo-based Swallows but struggled. He had 31 plate appearances in 20 games, playing first base in 14 of them, but hit only .172. By mid-July he was back with the Rangers organization, signing as a free agent. They placed him again in Oklahoma City and he got into 22 games, hitting .305 with 11 runs batted in. Shoulder surgery limited his overall playing time in 1997. In December Ortiz signed with the Kansas City Royals.

In 1998 he hit over .300 again, playing for the Omaha Royals, Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. However, he pulled a hip flexor muscle running out an infield hit in the first game of the season and was able to play in only 44 games, hitting .304 with 22 RBIs. He was released in October.

That winter, after four years away, Ortiz returned to the Dominican league. He got into seven games with Gigantes del Nordeste, going 2-for-23 (.087).

In early December, while the Dominican season was in progress, Ortiz signed on with his fifth organization (including the Swallows): the Milwaukee Brewers. In 1999 he was again in Triple A, in the International League, with the Louisville RiverBats. He split his time more or less evenly between first base, third base, and DH, playing in 96 games but with a .263 average that was subpar by his standards. He drove in 33 runs.

A free agent again, Ortiz signed with Texas once more for the year 2000 but was released at the end of spring training. In early May, he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was assigned to their Pacific Coast League team, the Tucson Sidewinders, and re-established himself as a .300 hitter in Triple A, batting .302 with 10 homers and 65 RBIs in 92 games. He played in one game for the Diamondbacks, but it was not the big-league team. It was their Arizona League rookie-level team, the AZL Diamondbacks, and he went 3-for-3.

In 2001, at age 31, Ortiz started the year in independent ball, playing for the Winnipeg Goldeyes (Northern League Central). He excelled, batting .349 and driving in 42 runs in 45 games. On August 2, the Montreal Expos purchased his contract. He played in 16 games for their Triple-A team, the Ottawa Lynx, batting .281.

That summer, he played professionally in a fourth country – playing Mexican League ball for both the Sultanes de Monterrey (17 games, batting .308) and the Olmecas de Tabasco in Villahermosa (.290 in 11 games). Per baseball-reference.com, the league was considered Triple-A level.

Ortiz played both the 2002 and 2003 seasons for Triple-A Expos teams. For Ottawa in 2002, he hit .291 with 63 RBIs in 106 games. Then in 2003, after Montreal switched its Triple-A team, he was with the Edmonton Trappers of the PCL. The Expos had various younger players who needed playing time, so he remained in extended spring training at Jupiter, Florida for the first month or so. By season’s end, he had appeared in 59 games for the Trappers, batting .305 with 13 doubles and 10 homers, for an impressive .532 slugging average.

The St. Louis Cardinals became Ortiz’s seventh major-league franchise when he signed with them on the day before Christmas, 2003. He played half a year – 75 games—for the Memphis Redbirds but hit only .245 and was released near the end of July 2004. The Expos picked him up again a week later and he returned to Edmonton but hit just .196 in 22 games. This brought an end to his playing career.

That career might have been longer, but the Union University news release suggested that he was playing at a time when so many other ballplayers were using performance-enhancing drugs, and he did not. “It was such a difficult time to play because there were so many guys doing it the wrong way. And you’re competing in an environment that wasn’t fair. But I also grew up with a mom who always said life is not fair, and you’ve got to make the best of it. I didn’t want to let God down, and I didn’t want to let my mom down.”7

Ortiz’s parents merit credit for a major accomplishment when he completed the requirements for his degree and graduated from Union University in 2004.8 In so doing, he became the first native of the Dominican Republic not only to play major-league baseball but also to be a university graduate. Union noted that honor when inducting Ortiz into its Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.9 He himself later said, “It’s more of a proud moment to me that I had graduated than played in the big leagues.”10

By the time of his induction he was also a published author. His first book was The Natural Hitter’s Handbook, a 245-page volume published by Coaches Choice in January 2005.11 The idea for the book emerged as he found himself at times with an “idle mind” while playing ball yet wanting to keep active while not in games. Ortiz said, “I started writing after I had shoulder surgery in ’97.” It was the first of four surgeries he had over time, repairing the hook of the hamate, right elbow, right shoulder, and right hip. “My career had been marred with some injuries and I was trying to build a bridge between my professional baseball career and life after baseball. I had so many teammates who had been asking me for advice, asking me to help them. Some of the best players in the world were asking for some of my insight. My mind was very active. You’ve got a little dead time. I didn’t want to waste my time, and my life, so I started writing down stuff. I’d start asking guys, ‘Hey, what kind of drills do you like to do?’”

In July 2006, Ortiz published a DVD with drills called The Natural Hitter’s Drill Handbook: 101 Basic Hitting Drills. In July 2010, there followed The Natural Hitter’s Drill Handbook – Vol. 3: 101 Drills to Improve Hitting Strength.

In 2007, Ortiz opened a baseball facility in Keller, Texas, within the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Swing City was meant to be, in his words, “an oasis for players.” There was an associated youth team – the Texas Twisters – with two levels of play. “Sports should be used as a way to teach the kids to become great adults,” Ortiz said. He added, “If the kid has MLB talent, he will play at the high level. If he does not, then he can still be a Major Leaguer in whatever he decides to do in life.”12 Ortiz had a partner when Swing City opened, but later bought him out. Ortiz sold the facility about five years later, as his coaching career blossomed.

In 2008 Ortiz began work as a professional coach. He recalled the change. “In the summer of 2008, Scott Servais was the minor-league director of the Rangers. He called me to see if I wanted to do some coaching in Spokane, Washington. The summer was the low time of year for the baseball school. We home-schooled the girls. My wife is from Washington State. So, I said, ‘OK, let’s try it.’ It was a three-month contract. I did it for the summer.” He became the hitting instructor for the short-season Class A Spokane Indians, who finished first in the eight-team Northwest League.

Due to the demands of running Swing City, Ortiz had to decline when the Rangers asked him to become a full-time coach. Instead, they made him a coordinator, which allowed him to “do a couple of weeks at home and then a couple of weeks on the road.” For the next three seasons (2009-11) he worked for the Rangers as their roving hitting instructor, becoming Assistant Hitting Instructor in the organization in 2012.

Just as in his playing career, Ortiz has worked for several different organizations in coaching and development work.

In 2013 and 2014 he served as Cleveland’s hitting coordinator and cultural development coordinator in the lower minors. In 2013, “I was in charge of the English classes, trying to help the international players transition, to make life a little bit easier.” The following year he became assistant field coordinator while also working as hitting coordinator.

Beginning in 2015, Ortiz worked three years for the San Diego Padres organization as field and hitting coordinator. In the final month of the 2017 season, he served as the major-league team’s interim hitting coach.

In 2018 he was assistant hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, helping them reach the World Series. In 2019 he rejoined the Rangers as their major-league hitting coach, serving three seasons.

In December 2021 the Boston Red Sox hired Ortiz as assistant hitting coach/interpreter, a position he held in both 2022 and 2023. He has enjoyed helping young players from outside the United States acclimate to their new life in baseball. Neither of his parents had spoken English, but he took English classes in high school. When he was offered the Fund scholarship, he was placed in an English-language institute in the Dominican Republic. Most of his friends were going to junior college, for an easier transition, but he says, “I guess I had really good grades, so they put me in a four-year school right away.” He adds, regarding his cultural roles, “That’s always been a passion of mine. I was so blessed to come here and go to school. That made my transition so much easier when I went into pro baseball. So, I’m just paying it forward.”

The Ortiz family continued to live in Texas. During an August 2023 interview, the author asked Ortiz about his daughters, and he took paternal pride in their education as well. “All my girls have graduated college, so that’s a big accomplishment. All four of them.”

Last revised: October 9, 2023

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Luis Ortiz for his memories.

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Rick Zucker and checked for accuracy by members of SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credit: Trading Card Database.

Sources

Dominican stats courtesy of www.winterballdata.com (subscription service).

Notes

1 “Ortiz, Swing City take baseball instruction to the next level,” Star Local Media (Plano, Texas), July 18, 2007. https://starlocalmedia.com/news/ortiz-swing-city-take-baseball-instruction-to-the-next-level/article_a0d7ac11-ec15-5629-ba8a-f4ba780cbe3c.html. Accessed July 17, 2023. For an article about the Fund and its principal Don Odermann, see Alan Schwarz, “Education Fund for Latin Players Quietly Changes Lives,” New York Times, May 5, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/sports/baseball/05odermann.html.

2 Author interview with Luis Ortiz on August 10, 2023. All direct quotations from Ortiz which are otherwise unattributed come from this interview.

3 https://uuathletics.com/honors/union-university-sports-hall-of-fame/luis-ortiz/30

4 Tim Ellsworth, “Former Union standout Ortiz reaches World Series as Dodgers coach,” Union University news release, October 23, 2018. https://www.uu.edu/news/release.cfm?ID=2595

5 Manager Butch Hobson had said in mid-August that he had hoped to get Ortiz up even before rosters expanded, if there were a way. See Nick Cafardo, “Elbow stiffness sidetracks Viola,” Boston Globe, August 16, 1993: 41; and Cafardo, “Ortiz and Ryan may arrive soon,” Boston Globe, August 17, 1993: 30.

6 The Rangers played an extra game that year due to a tie game with Baltimore that was rained out in the sixth inning on June 17, 1996.

7 Tim Ellsworth, “Former Union standout Ortiz reaches World Series as Dodgers coach.”

8 Having left Union to play baseball, getting married and having four children, Ortiz nonetheless wanted to complete his degree. After consulting with school officials, he was able to meet degree requirements in Physical Education/Kinesiology by taking a number of courses as independent studies and a final winter term class.

9 https://uuathletics.com/honors/union-university-sports-hall-of-fame/luis-ortiz/30. His major was physical education with a minor in marketing.

10 Tim Ellsworth, “Former Union standout Ortiz reaches World Series as Dodgers coach.”

11 The brief summary on Amazon.com reads: “Former major-leaguer Luis Ortiz presents this detailed overview of what a baseball player needs to do to make hitting look easy and natural. In a step-by-step, easy-to-understand fashion, the book reviews the general principles involved in hitting, outlines the six keys to great hitting, and explains how hitters can hit for both average and power.”

12 “Ortiz, Swing City take baseball instruction to the next level.”