Bio

Ramon Ortiz returns to The Steel Yard for his second season as the Hitting Coach for the Gary SouthShore RailCats.  A long-time coaching veteran, Ortiz embarks upon his first season in the MLB Partner Leagues.

A native of Venezuela, the Montreal Expos signed Ortiz as an international free agent in 1969.  He played three seasons in their system, reaching as high as Triple-A at just 17 years old in 1970.

Ortiz returned to baseball 11 years later, joining the coaching staff at Central University of Venezuela in 1983.  After three seasons in his home country, he made the jump to the affiliated ranks in 1987 with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he would spend five years as a roving instructor including a stint with their Rookie League affiliate Johnson City Cardinals in 1989.  From there, he worked for the Savannah Cardinals, their Single-A affiliate, from 1992-1994.

Ortiz took a break from coaching in 1995 before joining the New York Yankees organization the next year, serving as a roving instructor in 1996 and 1998 and a coach for the Single-A Greensboro Bats in 1997.  The Tampa Bay Devil Rays hired him the ensuing season, assigning him to the Short Season Hudson Valley Renegades from 1999-2002 and the High-A Bakersfield Blaze from 2003-2004.  The Los Angeles Dodgers then picked him up in 2005, placing him with the Single-A Vero Beach Dodgers in 2006 and the Rookie League GCL Dodgers in 2007.

In 2008, Ortiz returned to the Cardinals, staying in the Rookie League ranks with the GCL Cardinals.  From there, he progressed through their organization, moving on to the Short Season Batavia Muckdogs in 2009, the Johnson City Cardinals from 2010-2012, the Short Season State College Spikes from 2013-2014, the High-A Palm Beach Cardinals in 2015, and the Double-A Springfield Cardinals in 2016.