Phillies place righty reliever on 15-day injured list

The Phillies announced that right-hander Luis Ortiz has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left ankle sprain. Righty Nick Nelson was called up to take Ortiz’s spot on the active roster.

The injury compounded a tough day on the mound for Ortiz Saturday, as he was charged with two earned runs over two-third of an inning in Philadelphia’s 12-4 loss to the Braves. Ortiz appeared to hurt his ankle while attempting a fielding play in the fifth inning, and though he returned to the mound in the top of the sixth, he was pulled after allowing singles to the first two batters faced.

While the severity of the sprain isn’t yet known, it isn’t a great sign that Ortiz is immediately heading to the IL, rather than the common practice of taking a day or two to monitor swelling. It could be that the Phillies recognized that Ortiz would be delaying the inevitable in waiting to go on the injured list, and sidelining him now also allows the team to get a fresh arm into the bullpen. The Phils’ relief corps has already seen a lot of work over a pair of lopsided losses to Atlanta in Philadelphia’s first two games.

Ortiz is in his second season with the Phillies, and posted a 3.32 ERA over 19 relief innings for the club in 2023 despite a lot of roster shuffling in the form of numerous trips back and forth from Triple-A. Prior to last season, Ortiz had thrown only 14 1/3 total big league frames sprinkled across three seasons with the Orioles and Giants from 2018-22, and he didn’t pitch in the majors at all in 2020 or 2021. The Rangers selected Ortiz 30th overall in the 2014 draft, and he drew some top-100 prospect attention during his time in the minors.