Red Sox Nation seemed to hang on every single one of David Ortiz’s 500 home runs for Boston, including a few of the most clutch swings in franchise history. Now 10 years after the legend’s retirement, his son showed off some of the same power his father revolutionized in the same organization.
D’Angelo Ortiz launched his first professional home run during Single-A Salem's 6-5 loss to Fayetteville on Wednesday night at Carilion Clinic Field at Salem Memorial Ballpark.
The 21-year-old turned around an elevated pitch from right-hander Nick Potter (HOU No. 27) for a third-inning solo shot that soared over the left-field wall.
D'Angelo also walked on a 1-for-3 night and he's posted a slash line of .250/.346/.307 over his first 39 games of the season. He hit .269 last year in 79 games between the Florida Complex League and Salem after being drafted by Boston.
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Ortiz grew up chasing his father through MLB clubhouses and watched him win three championships in Boston. It seemed poetic when D’Angelo came to the organization after the Red Sox selected him in the 19th round of the 2024 Draft out of Miami Dade College.
Ortiz is far from alone in a new generation of ballplayers whose fathers made names for themselves in Boston. He played multiple summers for the Brockton Rox in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, where his teammates included Manny Ramirez Jr., Pedro Martinez Jr. and Kade Foulke (son of Keith Foulke). Jaden Sheffield, whose dad Gary -- as a member of the Yankees -- squared off with Ortiz in the teams' famed rivalry, also played for Brockton during that span.
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Ortiz’s father slugged 483 home runs with a .956 OPS in 14 seasons for the Red Sox and paved his way to a 2022 induction in Cooperstown. His postseason resume stands beside other legends of the game with 17 career home runs and a .947 OPS.