This Nats prospect is on a serious homer binge at Triple-A
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First baseman Abimelec Ortiz was one of the five prospects the Nationals received in the MacKenzie Gore trade and is the closest to the Majors of that quintet given that he is the only one at Triple-A Rochester. Right now, the Nats' No. 25 prospect is riding one heck of a power surge.
The lefty-hitting Ortiz homered twice on Wednesday for the Red Wings in their 8-4 victory over Syracuse at ESL Ballpark. It was his fourth consecutive game with a home run and Rochester's 10th straight W, marking its longest winning streak since 1992.
Ortiz smashed a two-run shot to right-center field in the first inning and followed that up with another two-run clout, which traveled a Statcast-projected 416 feet, out to center in the fifth. Ortiz has nine home runs through 14 games in May -- only two Minor Leaguers have more homers this month -- to go along with 27 RBIs and a 1.135 OPS.
Two days earlier, Ortiz cracked his longest tracked homer of the season thus far: a 434-foot walk-off home run .
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The 24-year-old Ortiz hasn't always been the most selective hitter, but he has cut his strikeout rate to 19.8%; it was at 22.1% between Double-A and Triple-A last season. He also owns a solid 11.9% walk rate through 82 career games with Rochester.
We should also mention that infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald, the Nationals' No. 5 prospect and No. 100 overall in MLB, went deep at High-A on Wednesday and is another Minor Leaguer with nine homers this month. He was acquired in the Gore deal, too, so early returns on that blockbuster are looking pretty good for Washington.