Who cares if it’s not real?! IT IS FUN!!!
In the 7th inning of a Spring Training game, minor league outfielder Rafael Ortega just hit a walk-off grand slam for the Cubs. That is such a wild sentence. And the crowd of 3,000 went wild:
https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1369424452245667845
That’s how you make your presence known to those making roster decisions, eh?
Maybe there wasn’t a full count (and maybe it wasn’t the 9th inning (and maybe there was only one out)), but down three in the final frame and you shoot that ball out? HELL YES.
Ortega knows what’s up.
The face when you hit a walk-off GRAND SLAM!#Cubs win! pic.twitter.com/xCnG2L5e3F
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 9, 2021
And, hey, if you’re looking for a little more on who exactly Rafael Ortega is/has been, Brett’s got you covered from all the way back in November, when he first signed a minor league deal with the Cubs:
Now 29, Ortega has actually had a taste of big league action for four different organizations since 2012 (Rockies, Angels, Marlins, and Braves), and has been a member of another two orgs along the way (Cardinals, Padres). And when it comes to a guy with that profile, you probably know it before I even say it: he pretty much always hits really well at AAA, and has yet to hit in the big leagues. Just scouting the stat sheet and his size (5’11”, 160), it’s not too hard to see why – Ortega appears to be an extreme contact guy with no power whatsoever. He’s been good enough that it plays at AAA, but when he gets to the big leagues (447 PAs now), the stuff you’d expect against better pitching happens: the strikeout rate ticks up, the walk rate slips, and the BABIP (which was supporting the whole thing) gets crushed. You add that up, and you go from a guy who is consistently posting wRC+ at 110 or better to a guy whose big league wRC+ is a dreadful 59.
Still, the lefty bat keeps getting opportunities for a reason, and he’s also hit really well in Venezuela the last couple years. With so much experience, you figure he probably is what he is at this point, but these guys right at the cusp of being useful in the big leagues are sometimes just a tweak away from being a quality bench guy.