For the second time in 17 years the son of a former Boston Red Sox star is playing for the Salem Red Sox. Koby Clemens, son of Sox great Roger Clemens, played for Salem in 2008 and last week D’Angelo Ortiz, son of Sox legend David “Big Papi” Ortiz, joined the Salem team.
D’Angelo Ortiz was assigned to the Salem team on July 23rd from the Red Sox Florida Complex League rookie team. He played in three games last week in Salem’s home series with Charleston, going two-for-11 at the plate with a run scored. He walked once and struck out five times.
Ortiz made his Salem debut last Thursday and picked up his first Carolina League hit, going one-for-four and playing third base. He was at first base Friday with a single in four at bats. He sat out Saturday’s game, then was back at third base Sunday, going 0-for-three.
D’Angelo was drafted by Boston in the 19th round of the 2024 amateur draft after playing at Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida. An infielder, he bats and throws righthanded and is listed at 6’1″ and 190 pounds. He turned 21 this summer on the 4th of July.
Ortiz was hitting .267 in the Florida Complex League when he was called up to Salem. He has yet to hit a home run in the minor leagues, something his father was famous for. David Ortiz, a Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, had 541 big league homers, with 483 of them coming in his 14 years with Boston. He began his MLB career with the Minnesota Twins.
Despite the stir about “Big Papi’s” son coming to town, the Salem team struggled against Charleston, dropping five of six on the homestand. Salem’s only win in the series was a 6-5 win on Friday as Yosander Asencio and Starlyn Nunez had three hits each. Nunez had a two run homer, his sixth of the season, to give Salem a 6-3 lead in the fourth inning and Jay Allmer picked up the win in relief. Allmer is now 4-1with a 2.62 earned run average.
After going 1-5 in the series the Sox fell to 11-19 in the second half of the split season, nine games behind the Carolina Mudcats in the CL’s North Division. Salem is in Lynchburg for six games this week, returning home to host the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers on Tuesday, August 5.
In other transactions in the past week infielder Fraymi DeLeon and pitcher Luis Cohen were called up to the Greenville Drive. Two righthanded pitchers, Jose Bello and Jesus Travieso, were elevated to Salem from the Florida Complex League.
