The Yankees are in settlement with outfielder Rafael Ortega on a minor league contract, as first reported by Complete Baseball News (Twitter hyperlink). The veteran will presumably be in massive league camp as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Ortega, 31, heads to the Bronx after two years as a Cub. Signed to a minor league contract over the 2020-21 offseason, he cracked the massive league roster in late May of 2021. Ortega would go to look in 103 video games for Chicago that yr, hitting .291/.360/.463. An elevated .349 batting common on balls in play propped up these spectacular outcomes, although it was nonetheless a powerful sufficient displaying for Ortega to carry his roster spot by means of the offseason.
While the lefty-hitting Ortega predictably couldn’t fairly preserve his 2021 manufacturing, he had one other strong yr. He received right into a career-high 118 video games final season, selecting up 371 journeys to the dish. Ortega hit .241/.331/.358, manufacturing only a hair worse than league common. He didn’t make a lot of an influence from an influence perspective, hitting solely seven residence runs with a barely below-average 33.5% exhausting contact charge. Yet he earned some prolonged run on the high of the Chicago lineup due to high quality strikeout and stroll marks. He drew free passes at a really sturdy 11.9% clip in opposition to a modest 19.9% strikeout charge, leading to an on-base proportion almost 20 factors greater than league common whilst his BABIP took the anticipated step again.
Despite his respectable two-year run, Ortega didn’t maintain his spot on the Chicago roster this time round. The Cubs non-tendered him relatively than retain him on an arbitration wage projected at $1.7MM. Without discovering a giant league deal in free company, he’ll now must work his method again onto an MLB roster so as to seem on the highest degree for a seventh season.
Ortega has ample expertise in any respect three outfield positions. Public metrics have pegged him as a barely below-average heart fielder however given him strong marks within the corners. The Yankees have a query in left discipline, the place Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera seem to be the present favorites for taking part in time. Aaron Judge and Harrison Bader are locked into the opposite two outfield spots if wholesome, although Ortega profiles as a top quality depth possibility within the occasion Bader or one of many different outfielders misses time to damage.
