Meet Your Hall of Famers: Jeimer Ortega

 

Bio:   Jeimer Ortega was born in Monte Cristi, DO (Pop. 42,657 located northwest region of the country in the coastal lowlands near the border with Haiti.) Ortega was found by scouts after he hit 8 homeruns playing in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic (8 games). 

International Signing: Signed for 19.1 million in Season 36 (2^nd highest that year) by Toronto (Seventy_77)

Scout Paul McKnight- “Is a true power hitter.  The ball sounds different when he squares it up.  He has above average contact and a good eye to go along with his power.  Fielding is below average but the bat overshadows it.”

Manager (Seventy_77): “Best player for our franchise ever.  Unbelievably consistent.  Kind of funny, but back when I made that blockbuster trade with Las Vegas to acquire the stud pitcher De Los Santos and dealt 2 of my top 3 prospects.  In less than a week later I was gifted Ortega in IFA.  He did get to play his entire career in Toronto.  Got lucky the year he went into free agency that it was same year as Rey Jung was also a free agent and was a few years younger and everyone was bidding on him and Ortega just happened to sign early and I got him cheaper than I thought I would.  And Ortega and Jung seemed to battle it out for MVP’s in the NL until Jung went to the AL.”

Career Earnings: $109,887,000

Career: Jeimer Ortega was an International Free Agent in Season 36 by Toronto and made his MLB debut in Season 39. He played his entire 21-year career in the Toronto organization.  During his career, he won 6 Most Valuable Player Awards (41, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50), and was a 9-time All-Star. He also won Rookie of the Year in Season 39 and 10 Silver Sluggers (40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50). He was also part of the World Series Campion team in Season 45. His third MVP award in Season 45 was his best season.  In that season he hit .311 AVG with a 1.065 OPS, and added 135 R, 28 2B, 3 3B, 49 HR, 118 RBI, and 15 SB. That lead him to amass career numbers of .300 AVG, .957 OPS, 1760 R, 2688 H, 403 2B, 31 3B, 652 HR, 1570 RBI, 1256 BB and 288 SB. He holds single season records for Toronto in Hits 217 (50), and 171.86 RC (50). He also has Career records for HR 652, R 1760, RC 1996.55, and BB 1256 for Toronto.

Speech Highlight- “I lived the baseball dream, from my youth leagues in the Dominican to playing in the World Baseball Classic to the tops of the Major Leagues.  I have been able to accomplish it all and now to top it off with being inducted into the Hall of Fame.”