Ortiz, new hair color and all, eyes rotation spot

BRADENTON, Fla. -- The offseason is a period of metamorphosis, a time in which players cocoon themselves in facilities and gyms to emerge as evolved players. Some players add mass, like Ke’Bryan Hayes. Some players alter their stance, like Jack Suwinski. Luis Ortiz? He changed up his flow.

Ortiz maintained his dreadlocks, but instead of the natural brown color, Ortiz’s locs, which he wears in a bun when he’s not pitching, now feature shades of blonde, beige and vanilla. New year, new wave.

“That happened during the offseason,” Ortiz said with an ear-to-ear smile through team interpreter/coach Stephen Morales. “I was looking for a new hairstyle in the Dominican, and this is the result.”

Ortiz’s hair isn’t all that changed during winter. During the offseason, Ortiz catapulted to a higher-ranking prospect. FanGraphs rates Ortiz as the Pirates' No. 4 prospect. Baseball Prospectus bills Ortiz at No. 7. MLB Pipeline hasn't released its latest team-by-team rankings, but Ortiz stands to make a big leap.

“It's good to know that I’m on people's radar now, but I don't pay attention to that,” Ortiz said. “I just work hard to do a good job every day and establish myself in the big leagues.”

Given his ability to sprint through the Pirates’ system, then deliver on two of baseball’s biggest platforms, the attention was inevitable.

Ortiz ended the ’21 season with Single-A Bradenton, but skipped High-A Greensboro and began ’22 with Double-A Altoona. Ortiz initially struggled, but posted a 2.89 ERA with 36 strikeouts in August and earned a promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis. In his second start with Indianapolis, he pitched six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts. The Pirates’ brass deemed Ortiz worthy of a cup of coffee, calling up the flamethrower less than a year after he pitched in the Florida State League.

Ortiz shined in his debut, one that took place on the back end of a doubleheader in Cincinnati, pitching 5 2/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts, one hit and three walks.

His second start, though, took place in a madhouse, a packed Yankee Stadium with Aaron Judge sitting on 59 home runs. Despite the chaos, Ortiz held his own, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks across five innings with five punchouts.

Another behemoth awaited Ortiz. A little over a week later, the Pirates threw Ortiz into the belly of the beast once again, starting Ortiz against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium during Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina’s last home regular-season series. Ortiz couldn’t escape the first inning, allowing six earned runs on three hits and three walks and recording just two outs, but the experience helped Ortiz grow.

“Those two outings at the end of the season gave me an idea of how the big leagues really are, facing those two teams,” Ortiz said. “I had Pujols at two strikes and threw a slider -- I thought it was a good slider -- and he ended up getting a hit, anyway.”

“He had some challenging games last year,” manager Derek Shelton said. “We threw him in Yankee Stadium when Judge was chasing 60, and then you go into Busch Stadium and you have the pomp [and] circumstance of what we saw last year. That's only going to make him better.”

Ortiz received a crash course in navigating stressful environments, but with the Pirates signing Rich Hill and Vince Velasquez to complement Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras and JT Brubaker, Ortiz will likely begin this season with Indianapolis. In Triple-A, Ortiz will have an opportunity to refine his changeup, a pitch that will be invaluable to his growth.

• No longer on leash, Roansy eyes big step forward

The right-hander threw his changeup only 5.1 percent of the time in the brief sample size of four starts, and while he impressed with his awesome fastball and biting slider, Ortiz knows he’ll need an established third pitch in his bag. Pitching coach Oscar Marin told Ortiz that he needed a changeup to throw against lefties, and Ortiz said he’s working on the changeup more than his heat or bender.

“I was not afraid of throwing the changeup but I was leaving [it] up in the strike zone, but I know I’ve got to throw that changeup to lefties more,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz no longer flies under the radar these days. In essentially two months, Ortiz evolved from sleeper to blue-chipper. For his next act, he’ll attempt to transition from rotation hopeful to rotation mainstay. Should he make that jump this season, maybe he’ll have another new style to rock, too.