Top 100 prospect Joey Ortiz gets callup by the Orioles as road trip begins

One of the Orioles top 100 prospects is headed to the major leagues for the first time. Infielder Joey Ortiz, 24, got a callup today as the club announced that infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra was optioned to Triple-A after Wednesday’s game.

Ortiz will wear No. 65 and his first appearance will be his MLB debut.

A slick-fielding shortstop that can also play second and third base, Ortiz is ranked No. 87 currently in the Baseball America top 100 and No. 91 via MLBPipeline.com. BA ranks him as the O’s No. 8 prospect and he is No. 7 on the MLBPipeline.com list of the club’s top 30 prospects.

Drafted in round four (No. 108 overall) in 2019 out of New Mexico State, the right-handed hitter was batting .359/.389/.500/.889 in 16 games at Triple-A this year with five doubles, two triples, no homers and eight RBIs. Last year, ending the year with Norfolk, he hit .346/.400/.567/.967 in 26 games with four homers and 14 RBIs.

He had a recent torrid stretch with Norfolk where, over a five-game run, he had 14 hits in 21 at-bats. For his minor league career, over 244 games, he has batted .277/.351/.430/781.

The Orioles are scheduled to face three lefty pitchers the next three days in Detroit, starting with Joey Wentz (0-3, 7.56 ERA) tonight to begin a four-game series and 10-game road trip. So today they swapped out a lefty bat for a right-handed hitter.

Ortiz also provides further coverage at shortstop with Jorge Mateo recently dealing with hip soreness. Ortiz is a strong defensive player, who gets 60 fielding grades from Baseball America and 65 from MLBPipeline.com while both outlets put a plus 55 grade on his arm.

This year Ortiz played in 15 games at shortstop, one at second base and two at third base. But most of his career starts have come at short.

Vavra, a versatile defender, was 6-for-26 for the Orioles in 15 games, batting .231/.310/.231/.541.

Right-hander Kyle Gibson (4-0, 3.60 ERA) gets the start tonight in Detroit opposite Wentz as the trip begins. The Orioles (16-8) are 7-4 on the road games and this trip will also take them to Kansas City and Atlanta.