Junior Ortiz: Early Eighties Mets Backup Catcher (1983 - 1984)

-
Adalberto Colon Ortiz was born October 24, 1959, in Humacao, Puerto Rico. The five-foot eleven catcher was originally signed as a teenager by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1977.

In 1980 Otiz had a good year at AA Buffalo hitting 12 HRs while batting .334. Unfortunately, he never matched those numbers again. 

MLB Career: Ortiz debuted for the Pirates in seven games of the 1982 season. In 1983 he began the year in Pittsburgh as a backup to catcher Tony Pena but after just five games played by June, he was traded to the New York Mets for Marvell Wynne.

Mets Career: For the remainder of the 1983 season, Ortiz spent his time in New York backing up Ron Hodges. That season saw big changes for the Mets as the team improved with Rookie of the Year Darryl Strawberry & the arrival of Keith Hernandez. 

In 68 games Ortiz batted .254 with five doubles & 12 RBIs. Behind the plate he threw out 25% of would-be base stealers & posted a .965 on base %.

1984: This season, the Mets contended for the NL East under new manager Davey Johnson. Ortiz was the back up to Mike Fitzgerad as the team’s catcher in 32 games. 

The young Mets staff now had phenom Dwight Gooden, with a young Ron Darling & Sid Fernandez.

Junior got the start in the second game of the season & drove in a run in the Mets Ron Darling, Doug Sisk combined 2-0 shut out at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

On April 6th, he drove in two more runs in the Mets 8-1 win against the Astros in Houston. On July 6th, Ortiz drove in a pair of runs helping the Mets in a comeback 6-5 win over the Reds at Shea Stadium.

Overall, he was good defensively, but struggled at the plate not hitting over .200 until August but finishing the year up with a .198 average, collecting three doubles & 11 RBIs in 40 games played. 

That season the Mets traded for All Star catcher Gary Carter, there were also high expectations for rookie catcher Mike Gibbons. In December Ortiz returned to Pittsburgh as a Rule V draft player.

Post Mets Career: Ortiz spent five seasons in Pittsburgh from 1985 thru 1989. There he was a backup up to Tony Pena & then Mike Lavalliere. In his first year in Pittsburgh, he batted .292 but only had 72 at bats. That year he threw out 36% of would-be base stealers 6% higher than the league average. In 1988 he hit .280 in 118 at bats, both career best.

In 1990 he was traded to the Minnesota Twins who would finish last but the next year would win the World Series. In 1990 he hit an incredible .335 in 71 games.

In 1991 his average fell off to .209 but his defense was superb, in 41 games he threw out 46% of would-be base stealers catching 13 of 28 runners.

1991 Post Season: In the NLCS win over Toronto he appeared in three games, playing the entire Game #3 extra inning victory going 0-3.

1991 World Series: In the Championship victory over the Atlanta Braves, he in three games getting two starts & once as a late inning defensive replacement. In Game #3 he collected a single off Steve Avery & in Game #5 he drove in a run in the 14-5 Twins loss.

He was granted free agency & signed with the Cleveland Indians. He then spent two years in Cleveland playing in a career high 95 games in 1993 when main catcher Sandy Alomar went down with injury. In 1994 Ortiz went to the Texas Rangers playing behind Ivan Pudge Rodriguez in his final season.

Career Stats: In his 13-year career, Ortiz was a lifetime .256 hitter, with 484 hits, 5 HRs, 71
doubles, 5 triples & 186 RBIs. He struck out 222 times walked 121 times with a .305 on base % in 1894 at bats in 749 games.

Behind the plate he threw out 32% of would-be base stealers, making 45 errors in 3303 chances posting a .986 fielding % in 702 games.

Trivia: During his career he suffered one of the strangest injuries in baseball history, having to sit out a game because he stepped on a papaya. 

 Family: Junior named his son Junior & he is known as Junior JR.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Mets Broadcaster: Fran Healy ( 1984-2005)

-
Image
Francis Xavier Healy was born on September 6, 1946 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The big six foot five catcher, attended American International University at Springfield. In 1964 he was signed by the Cleveland Indians, spending five years in their minors leagues. In 1968 he was drafted as the 56th pick in the expansion draft, chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He would make his MLB debut playing six games there in 1969 & spending the next year in the minors. In October of 1970, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Garibaldi. Healy played in 47 games for the 1971 Western Division Champion Giants, as the backup catcher to Dick Dietz. He hit .280 with two HRs & 11 RBIs. He did not play in the NLCS & after hitting just .152 the next year in 45 games, he was traded back to Kansas City. He became the Royals main catcher in 1973 playing solid behind the plate, throwing out 44% of would be base stealers. That year he had the distinction of catching Steve Busb
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Remembering Mets History: (1977) The Felix Millan / Ed Ott Brawl In Pittsburgh

-
Image
Friday August 12th, 1977: Joe Torre's last place Mets (47-66) traveled to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh for a double header with Chuck Tanner's second place Pirates (66-49). The bad times were underway for the late seventies Mets and tonight marked the end of another key player's career from the 1973 NL Champion team. In the first game of a double header, Jerry Koosman (8-13) took a 3-1 loss to Jim Rooker (10-6) & the Pirates. Both pitchers went the distance, with Koosman giving up three runs on six hits & Rooker giving up the lone Met run on nine hits. In the night cap Mets started Bob Myrick against Pittsburgh's  Bruce Kison.  In the 2nd inning Myrick himself added an RBI base hit making it 1-0 Mets. Lee Mazzilli added a two run HR in the 4th putting the Mets up 3-2. The Mets were battling, but the Pirates tied it up at 3-3 in the sixth inning.  Met Manager; Joe Torre made a double switch bringing in Felix Millan to play second base, as Do
Read more