20-Year-Old Deniel Ortiz Is Rising Through The Cardinals System
A Blog by Tobey
We’ve seen a ton of young talent come through the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system as of late. Notable names like Masyn Winn and Jordan Walker have made their ways to the big league club and now it forces us to look to the new group of young prospects looking to be the next to make it up to the big leagues.
One of those young prospects is playing his baseball down in High-A Peoria at just 20-years-old. Corner infielder Deniel Ortiz has stood out for multiple different reasons in 2025, causing him to breakout and slide into the Cardinals Top 30 prospects list on MLB Pipeline.
Ortiz now ranks as the Cardinals No. 24 prospect according to MLB. He’s graded out with plus power as well as a plus arm from the hot corner, with a below average hit tool, speed, and glove. The JUCO product now has been given an ETA to St. Louis of 2027.
Player Profile: MLB Pipeline
This is Ortiz’s first professional season, and as a former 16th round pick in 2024, to be already within the Top 25 prospects in the organization is remarkable.
89 G (A/A+)
371 PA
.279 AVG
.396 OBP
.439 SLG
.836 OPS
11 HR
49 R
41 RBI
34 SB
When you look at the advanced profile this season from his time in Low-A Palm Beach, it tells us a lot more about why Ortiz is becoming more highly regarded. What jumps out first is the impressive EV and Hard-Hit numbers.
Percentile Rankings:
EV: 89th Percentile (91.5 mph)
50th% EV: 92nd Percentile (94.5 mph)
90th% EV: 88th Percentile (105.3 mph)
Barrel%: 90th Percentile (12.5%)
Hard-Hit%: 88th Percentile (49.3%)
Data: Prospect Savant
Those numbers allowed him to club 10 homers with Palm Beach in 77 games, with 10 doubles and a triple to go along. In 12 games at the High-A level, he’s maintained the SLG at a .400 clip, and has 5 extra base hits, one being a home run.
Another stat to pair with those EV and Hard-Hit numbers, Ortiz pulls the ball in the air frequently, with a 25% Pull Air% in Palm Beach. This is good for a ranking in the 85th Percentile. With those EVs, pulling the baseball in the air is only going to result in more HR’s for him.
If he can maintain the power across the remaining levels of the minor leagues, he has a chance to be a 20/20 player at the big league level. A very large stretch but the 30+ stolen bases he has makes a ceiling of a 30/30 season impossible to get out of the mind.
There are some concerns with the K% and Whiff%. While he’s walked at a 14.8% rate this year, he’s struck out at a near 30% clip. If just that improves and everything else remains how it is now, Ortiz has a chance to round himself out as a very good overall prospect.
Ortiz crushes near every pitch type, with a Hard-Hit% over 40% vs. four different pitches (4-Seam, Slider, Sinker, Curve). Where he excels is against 4-Seamers and Sinkers.
Pitch Type Performance (Single-A Numbers)
4-Seam (30.5% Usage): .287 xBA | .524 xSLG | .409 xwOBA | 62.22% HH%
Sinker (17.1% Usage): .297 xBA | .526 xSLG | .416 xwOBA | 45.71% HH%
*HH% = Hard-Hit%*
He does very good vs. the Curve as well, with a .302 xBA, .515 xSLG, and 50% HH%. He only sees this pitch 8.1% of the time however. He also has success vs. the Slider with a .477 xSLG and 52.94% HH% on 22.3% usage.
If he could improve against the Cutter and Changeup then you’re really getting a guy who’s a dangerous at bat for any pitcher. While he’s had virtually no success vs. the Sweeper, it’s hard to be concerned when it’s used on him 1.8% of the time, especially when you factor in the success vs. Curves and Sliders.
Data: Prospect Savant
When we look at his xBA in every part of the strike zone from Single-A, we can see where Ortiz does the most damage. For a pitcher, keeping stuff elevated and inside is going to their best bet as from Zones 5-9, Ortiz crushes.
Zone 5: .402 xBA
Zone 6: .413 xBA
Zone 7: .480 xBA
Zone 8: .522 xBA
Zone 9: .409 xBA
Leaving anything down the middle against anyone is a bad idea, but against Ortiz especially it’s going to hurt. If a breaking ball hangs as well, there’s a pretty good shot that baseball won’t stay in the yard.
After starting the season slow with a .683 OPS in April, Ortiz finished with a .804 OPS in the first half. He’s been solid all year, currently posting an .877 OPS in the second half at the time of this writing.
Data: Baseball Savant
He’s proven to be a great bat in close games, with a 1.011 OPS in 28 AB according to Baseball Savant. He’s a bat you want to come around to late in a game, posting solid numbers vs. both left handed, and right handed pitching.
vs. LHP (83 PA): .301/.373/.425 | .798 OPS | 1 HR
vs. RHP (288 PA): .272/.403/.444 | .847 OPS | 10 HR
Data: Baseball Savant
It’ll be interesting to see how Ortiz finishes his year out in High-A Peoria. It’s been a phenomenal breakout year for the former 16th rounder, and he should only continue to rise. Especially if the whiff improves. 2026 will be a massive year for Deniel Ortiz.