photo: Deniel Ortiz (Peoria Chiefs)
In a FREE article, at no. 15 in The Cardinal Nation’s Top 50 prospect countdown for 2026 is a former 16th rounder who had an exceptional first professional season at Class-A. In which areas will Deniel Ortiz need improvement to become a Top 10 prospect?
Position: First/third base
Age: 21 years old
Bats/Throws: R/R
Height/Weight: 6’0, 249 pounds
Acquired: Selected in the 16th round of the 2024 First-Year Player Draft, 471st overall
Hometown: Lynn, MA
College: Walters State Community College (TN)
Opened 2025: Palm Beach Cardinals (Low-A)
Primary team in 2025: Palm Beach Cardinals (Low-A)
Finished 2025: Peoria Chiefs (High-A)
Prior Top 50 rankings – not ranked
Click on the above photo to be taken to Ortiz’ player page at The Cardinal Nation, with additional biography and history information.
2025 highlights
| Tm | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | SB | CS | BB% | K% | BABIP | wRC+ |
| Peo/PB | 450 | 0.300 | 0.416 | 0.462 | 0.878 | 13 | 39 | 9 | 14.9% | 26.0% | 0.402 | 152 |
Kyle Reis’ scouting report
Kyle’s ranking – no. 14
Deniel Ortiz is the reason why following and pontificating about the minor leagues is so fun, celebrating the growth of a prospect while dreaming on what he might turn into. Ortiz was 20 years old when drafted out of junior college in the 16th round of a 20-round draft. Very little was known about him, and very little hype accompanied his selection. It’s not fair to say that he was written off from the minute that he was drafted, but it’s probably fair to say that there really wasn’t any reason to give him extra attention.
After sitting out the remainder of the 2024 season after being drafted, this unheralded masher is the 15th best Cardinals prospect on our list, and he should be a consensus top 30 prospect on every national Cardinals list.
HOW FUN!
You know how I spend a lot of time talking about how important it is for a prospect to flash power potential? Well, Ortiz’s power potential coupled with his in-game power display is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in his profile. For an organization that has been power-starved, especially in the minor leagues, that gives Ortiz a leg-up. He has a swing geared to power, too. It starts with his strong and stocky frame of which he has tremendous control at the plate.
Ortiz employs a pronounced leg kick for timing, and sometimes that forces him to get out in-front of off-speed offerings. For example, he will roll breaking pitches and swing over changeups, but it’s not so off-balance that it can’t be tweaked or augmented. The good news is that Ortiz does a tremendous job of keeping his hands back, and his swing is short, direct, and long through the zone. Ortiz gets some great backspin on the ball off the bat.
He has a launch-angle revolution swing, but not in an over pronounced way. Sometimes, it even feels like he’s chopping down on the ball only for that ball to find air off the bat. Aside from Rainiel Rodriguez, this is probably the swing – just the swing – most engineered for putting the ball in the air and far. Simply put, Ortiz finds his barrel and hits the ball hard A LOT.
Adding to Ortiz’s intrigue is that he does a lot of damage against fastballs. NOW, the caveat here is that even though he mashes most fastballs, he really struggles against heat at 95+ mph. It’s probably the biggest hole in his hitting profile. When you take the velocity down to 93+ mph, the numbers get better, but not enough to waylay the concern. He will need to improve on identifying and reacting to these pitches in the box. I do worry that righties will carve him up with that type of heat specifically up or in or both. His improvement here will be the emphasis of most of my attention during the 2026 season.
It’s tough to be too critical of the high-velocity contact issues with Ortiz when he’s so good at hitting breaking balls. There are still some swing decision concerns in his profile, and that’ll be another thing that we’ll be keeping an eye on. While at Palm Beach, Ortiz made steady gains with his swing decisions even if those returns seemed modest. It was reflected best in how his strikeout rate crept down month after month at Low-A. Even with questionable swing decisions, we can look at Ortiz’s 14.9% walk rate on the 2025 season (13.8% in 130 plate appearances at High-A) and see that he isn’t some kind of free-swinging madman. Ortiz has a complex approach at the plate that I do not believe is best served by reducing him to simply making subpar swing decisions. He’s better than some of the judgement advanced analytics point to.
The two major reasons why Ortiz lasted until the 16th round in the 2024 draft were questions about his athleticism and his future defensive home. Every major draft scouting outlet that had anything on Ortiz (and a few did) were quick to label him a below-average runner at best and a poor defender without a future defensive home. What Ortiz did during the 2025 season points to poor evaluation in both categorizations.
Now, I’m not saying that Ortiz is some off the charts athlete. What I am telling you is that grading or evaluating a prospect’s ability to run solely on sprint speed in the game of baseball is poor judgement. While I do not think he’s fast enough or quick enough to steal 39 bases at Triple-A or higher like he did during the 2025 MiLB season, I do think that Ortiz has average base-running speed that is aided greatly by his base-running IQ. Ortiz gets good jumps and has an aptitude for smart base running decisions like when to take an extra base.
I’ll regret adding this name to this write-up even though I only mean it in this specific context, but think of his speed and abilities on the bases similar to early career AND BASE RUNNING ONLY Albert Pujols. DO NOT COMPARE HIM TO ALBERT PUJOLS ANYWHERE ELSE, YOU MONSTERS.
Well… Maybe… Maybe we find one other spot to compare him to early-stage Albert Pujols. Part of the reason why Pujols lasted until the 13th round of the 1999 draft was because most scouts didn’t believe he’d have a defensive home because of poor athleticism grades. I do not think that Deniel is the athlete that Pujols was back then, and I do not believe that he has the capability to ever play first the way that the Gold Glover Pujols did. But, Ortiz is definitely being under-graded defensively like Pujols was early in his career. PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THAT LAST LINE BECAUSE THAT’S THE COMPARISON I AM MAKING. NOTHING ELSE WITH PUJOLS AND ORTIZ.
Sorry for shouting. I just really need to drive home that point.
What I’ve seen from Ortiz at both first and third is what I like to describe as “minor league average”. That’s just a fancy way of saying that it’s major league below average, but it’s perfectly “fine” in the minors as compared to others at all levels. It’s probably safest to assume that he’s best served as a first baseman long-term, but he has the arm and the will to stay at third moving forward. He showed steady progress at both positions as the season progressed, and that’s my key takeaway when evaluating Ortiz’s defense in his first season of affiliated baseball a year-ish removed from juco competition.
In Ortiz, I see the foundation for a major league regular of some varying type, but with work to do to get there. If he can continue to make progress in the field at either of the infield corners or even an outfield corner while making strong strides with two-strike and pitcher’s counts swing decisions, then he’ll get there.
It’s a lot to ask, but the growth that Ortiz has already displayed along with his power potential, supported by some of the underlying data, suggests that a major league debut or more is well within his realistic realm of possibilities.
Brian Walton’s environmental impact report
Brian’s ranking – no. 18
Ortiz is the second consecutive 2024-drafted player in this countdown (following Braden Davis at no. 16) who went unranked here a year ago after not playing following his signing. And like Davis, Ortiz stormed out of the gates strongly in 2025, earning a Top 20 placement in the system after his first year. Both are trending sharply upward, but both carry early-career questions, too.
Background
Born in Puerto Rico, Ortiz is a traveler. He grew up in Massachusetts but graduated from high school in Georgia before attending Walters State Community College in Tennessee in 2023-2024.
In two seasons at Walters State, the right-handed batter hit .387 with 34 home runs and 116 RBI in 117 games. Ortiz drew 91 walks against 70 strikeouts.
Then 19 years of age, he batted .321 in 26 games for the 2024 State College Spikes, a member of the MLB Draft League. The prior summer, he was an Appalachian League All-Star, leading the collegiate league with 10 home runs for Kingsport, and won the circuit’s Home Run Derby.
Credit goes to Cardinals scout TC Calhoun for finding Ortiz and urging the organization to select him in the 16th round of the 2024 draft. However, don’t be fooled by the round. Ortiz received $200,000 to sign, which was approximately ninth-round money.
Interestingly, Ortiz is the only position player taken by the Cardinals in 2024 to not suit up for game action that summer.
However, he played winter ball for the Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rico League. Against a much more advanced group of pitchers, Ortiz slashed just .133/.328/.156/.483 in 61 plate appearances over 20 games. Despite only six hits, of which five were singles, he walked 14 times against 16 strikeouts.
2025 recap
Only behind JJ Wetherholt, Rainiel Rodriguez and Joshua Baez, perhaps, was Ortiz’ excellent 2025 season played between the two Class-A levels.
Said to be 6-foot-1, 228 pounds at signing, by the spring of 2025, Ortiz was listed by the Cardinals as a stockier 6-foot even and 249 pounds. Seeing him all spring starting in STEP Camp, I agree with the more recent representation as likely being more accurate.
As expected, Ortiz opened his professional career at Low-A Palm Beach. By June, he was the Florida State League Player of the Week and then took the league’s monthly honors, too. The Cardinals organization also chose him as their June Player of the Month.
Called up to Peoria on July 29, Ortiz finished August as the Midwest League Player of the Week. Following the season, he was named a Florida State League All-Star and The Cardinal Nation’s Palm Beach Player of the Year.
For the full season, Ortiz led the Beach Birds in batting average (.285), on-base percentage (.406) and stolen bases (31 of 34). His .852 OPS compiled in 77 games was second only to teammate Rainel Rodriguez.
In his 30 Midwest League games to conclude the season, the right-handed hitter drove in 15 and had a .938 OPS. He hit .336 and had a solid 1.6 K/BB ratio. Ortiz continued to use his legs with Peoria, stealing eight more bases, but the opposing battery competition was much stiffer as he was caught six times.
Across the system in 2025, Ortiz was second in stolen base attempts (48), second in steals (39) and tied for fourth in caught stealing (nine).
Ortiz was one of only five hitters in the organization to hit .300 for the season. He was third in on-base percentage (.416) and third in Weighted Runs Created Plus (152). He ranked third in walk percentage at 14.9% and tied for third in free passes taken (67). His highly inflated .402 BABIP is the elephant in the room, however.
Elvis Rodriguez was Ortiz’ hitting coach with the Chiefs and will again be his coach upon Ortiz’ arrival at Double-A. Rodriguez fully believes in his pupil’s hit tool.
“I’ve known Deniel Ortiz since he was 12 years old,” Rodriguez said. “He played in the same program where I live in Massachusetts. He has always been able to hit since he came to the States from Puerto Rico. He hasn’t stopped hitting, from AAU through high school. It is fun to see him in professional baseball and keep hitting. He is one of the guys who I think can hit his way into the upper levels of baseball.”
Back with Carolina in winter ball for the 2025-2026 campaign, Ortiz improved somewhat, but he still wasn’t hitting for either average or power. He slashed .213/.343/.258/.601 in 108 plate appearances in his first 27 contests in Puerto Rico while logging most of his time in the field at the hot corner (.940 fielding percentage).
2026 outlook
With only 30 games under Ortiz’ belt in the Midwest League, it would not be surprising for the Cardinals to return him there to begin 2026. If he picks up where he left off in 2025, he shouldn’t be there too long, however.
It would be a major upset if Ortiz does not spend considerable time at Double-A during 2026.
We will have to watch what the Cardinals do with Ortiz defensively. He played slightly more third base than first at Palm Beach, but it flipped with Peoria, such that it was close to 50-50 for the season. As you will see below, at least one scout believes that he will eventually become a first base-only player.
The good news for Ortiz is that there are no other third base prospects in the system ahead of him who might block his normal progression. Though it would help him even more if his Peoria teammate Jesus Baez can remain at short instead of moving to third. The same open runway at first base exists, possibly except for Blaze Jordan, but he is two levels above.
Future outlook
Future Value: 40
Role: Reserve
Risk: Moderate
At this point, Ortiz’ 47 games of winter ball over two seasons are his only experience against more advanced pitching, and other than drawing walks, his results have not been encouraging.
Over 169 total plate appearances, his line in Puerto Rico is a very quiet .187/.337/.224/.561. Of his 25 hits, five are doubles with no triples or home runs. While a .140 ISO is considered average and .200 is exceptional, Ortiz’ isolated power is a dismal .037. He has not run much, either (six steals in seven attempts). His strikeout rate is a tolerable 21.9% against a stellar walk rate of 17.2%.
Yes, he is still just 21 years old and will not turn 22 until the end of August 2026. Yes, winter ball isn’t what counts. But again, with two partial seasons logged, is this what we might see when he advances to Double-A?
A Midwest League scout noted the following about Ortiz. “His .400 BABIP was obscenely high,” he said. “I am also not sure about his (plate) discipline. He is more of a gap-to-gap hitter than a power hitter.”
“Ortiz is not fast – a 40 runner, but he has good instincts and steals bases. Definitely, he is not good enough defensively to stay at third base,” the evaluator concluded.
Ortiz has two more seasons before the Cardinals must protect him from the Rule 5 draft. It is not unreasonable to project him reaching Triple-A by the second half of 2027. With a 40-man roster spot in hand, a 2028 MLB debut could follow.
Having said that, however, late 2027 and 2028 are still a long way away. Ortiz must first consistently demonstrate the power expected of a big-league corner infielder. If he becomes a first base-only player, it would put even more pressure on his bat.
With just one A-ball season on his official resume to date, Ortiz has a lot of baseball ahead of him yet to be played. I am not going to get ahead of myself, even if I am later proven to have been too conservative. He is still in my Top 20, but he is not yet pushing my Top 10.
It wouldn’t take another full 2025-like season from Ortiz for me to change my mind and upgrade his outlook.
MLB debut: 2028
Rule 5 eligible: 2027
Our 2026 Top 50 series continues
To see the entire list of top Cardinals prospects, grading scales and remaining article schedule, click here. This includes the Top 50 countdown and 10 in-depth, follow-up articles breaking down the list.
50 Days, 50 Nights, 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2026
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