Earlier this week the Rangers made some personnel moves involving some of their minor league players. One of those players was Abimelec Ortiz. He was promoted from Down East to Hickory. With the Rangers, Abimelec has spent most of his time at first base, but he has also seen some time in right field and at DH.
In his first three games with Hickory, he hit three home runs and two sacrifice flies while walking once. He has certainly started off well after his promotion. Before his promotion, his slash line for Down East in 101 at bats was .307/.392/.604/.996.
Since he is off to such a great start, I thought it would be good to review how Abimelec Ortiz got to this point with the Rangers. I haven’t seen him in any top thirty prospect lists so a lot of folks may not know much about him.
Abimelec was available in the 2021 draft but went undrafted. The Rangers signed him as a free agent after his freshman season at Florida Southwestern State. That season he led his school with a .349 average and an OPS of 1.025. He was second on the club in doubles, home runs, and RBI.
After signing with the Rangers he played in the Dominican Summer League. He did very well while there. In forty games his OPS was 1.000. He hit a league-leading eleven home runs and walked more than he struck out.
Last year he played all year at Down East and struggled. He struck out ninety-three times in 292 at bats. He only hit .226 with an OPS of .688. He did hit eleven home runs for Down East last year. In spite of his overall bad numbers, he managed to finish well. In his last thirty-three games he hit six of his eleven home runs and put up an OPS of .895
This year he went back to Down East and hit much better. In 101 at bats, he put up a slash line of .307/.392/.604/.996. That prompted his recent promotion to Hickory. He is still striking out a ton, but he has already hit ten home runs this season.
