Abimelec Ortiz and Jose Corniell still have a ways to go in order to make it to the Majors. But these two Texas Rangers were part of a group of prospects across baseball that got their careers back on track in 2023.
Both Ortiz and Corniell finished 2023 with the High-A Hickory Crawdads, and MLB Pipeline cited the pair’s vast improvement from 2022 to 2023 as part of the reason for making the list.
Ortiz was selected the Tom Grieve Minor League Player of the Year in 2023 for his play at first base and at the plate, batting .294/.371/.619/.990 with 33 home runs, 20 doubles, 101 RBI and 49 walks in 109 games between Class-A Down East and Hickory.
He led the minor leagues in slugging percentage, led the South Atlantic League with 26 home runs and was fourth across the minor leagues in home runs and OPS. Along with the honor from the Rangers, he was named to the second team of MiLB’s Prospect Team of the Year.
It’s a far cry from where Ortiz was at the end of the 2022 season, when he slashed .226/.308/.380 with Down East. He spent the offseason working with former Major League star Carlos Delgado.
Ortiz, who is now the No. 14 prospect in the Rangers’ organization, joined the organization on a $20,000 signing bonus after he signed as a non-drafted free agent out of SouthWestern State Junior College in 2021.
Corniell, a right-handed pitcher, got a little bit more when he signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2019 out of the Dominican Republic — $630,000. The Rangers got Corniell in a trade for Rafael Montero.
His 2022 at Down East was rough — a 3-5 record and 5.45 ERA.
He changed all of that in 2023, as he was named the Nolan Ryan Pitcher of the Year by the organization. He went 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA. He also struck out 119 and walked 31. He walked three fewer hitters in 2023 in 101 2/3 innings than he did in 2022, when he walked 34 hitters in 66 innings.
Corniell is the No. 23 prospect in the organization.
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