Pirates pitcher’s small adjustments led to surprising 2024 breakout

Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz entered the 2023 season as a top-100 prospect in baseball. He had a strong showing in late 2022, so hopes were high that he could take over a rotation spot the following year. But Ortiz couldn’t build upon his promising 2022 campaign, as the righty only pitched to a 4.78 ERA, 5.57 FIP, and 1.70 WHIP. He walked 12% of opponents while only having a 14.5% strikeout rate. Ortiz was also prone to home runs, allowing 1.35-per-9.

Although expectations were initially low for Ortiz heading into 2024, he would end the year as one of the Pirates’ many talented and young starting pitchers. Ortiz opened the year as a multi-inning bullpen arm, but after getting stretched out in June, he would take over a starting pitcher role and not look back.

In total, Ortiz pitched 135.2 innings in 37 appearances, including 15 starts. During that time, he pitched to the tune of a 3.32 ERA, 4.25 FIP, and 1.11 WHIP. Ortiz still had a sub-20% K% at 19.2%, but he greatly improved his walk rate, lowering it to 7.6%. He also became less home run prone with a 1.09 HR/9 rate. Ortiz was inducing more soft contact, as his opponent barrel rate dropped from 10% last year to 8.8% this season.

Pirates pitcher Luis Ortiz made key changes that led to breakout season in 2024

One big change Ortiz made between 2023 and 2024 was his arm slot, according to Baseball Savant. In 2023, he threw from a 31-degree arm slot, but he lowered that by nearly ten degrees to 22 degrees in 2024. Ortiz also didn’t change his release point, releasing the ball 6.8 inches in front of the mound. That was the same as last year and sat in the 79th percentile, giving his stuff some velocity deception.

Another big reason Ortiz broke out was because of his cutter. He essentially added the pitch to his arsenal after throwing it just four times the previous season. This year, it was his third-most used pitch, as he threw it 19.7% of the time. His cutter had a run value of +6 and an RV/100 of +1.3. He ranked 13th in total RV while ranking 21st in RV/100 of any pitcher with a cutter in 2024 (min. 50 plate appearances).

Ortiz’s slider had a big change in movement profile as well. In 2023, his sider averaged out with 37.2 inches of drop and 4.7 inches of glove-side break. This season, he added some horizontal movement with 6.6 inches of break but sacrificed some drop, as his vertical movement sat at 34.8 inches. His sinker also saw a change, as he threw it with 27.2 inches of vertical drop compared to only 23.3 inches last year. But he kept similar velo on his slider, and horizontal movement on his sinker compared to 2023.

Ortiz’s location was also a lot different and for the better. His four-seam fastball lost some vertical drop from 16.3 inches last year to 18.4 inches this year. But the way he used the pitch was a lot different. Ortiz left the pitch in the middle of the zone frequently in 2023. This year, he wasn’t afraid to work further up in the zone. Ortiz was also able to hit the down and away corner to right-handed batters/down and in corner to left-handed batters with his slider better. His sinker was more effective thrown down-and-in to righties, and down and away to lefties.

Ortiz’s changes between his arm slot, adding a new pitch, and locating on the corners better helped him have a breakout 2024 season. He’s likely earned an inside track to a starting rotation spot behind Paul Skenes, Jared Jones, and Mitch Keller for next season. Ortiz could be an important piece of a Pirates team that has the potential to make a playoff run next season.

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