Boston Red Sox
The 21-year-old went deep for the first time since being drafted by Boston in 2024.
David Ortiz tips his cap to the crowd before playing the New York Yankees on Sept. 29, 2016, with D’Angelo by his side. AP Photo/Kathy Willens
June 12, 2026 | 7:49 PM
2 minutes to read
An Ortiz hit a home run for a Red Sox team.
No, not the legendary David Ortiz.
His son, D’Angelo Ortiz, was the one who put bat to ball for the first long ball of his professional career earlier this week.
Ortiz, 21, clobbered a solo home run for the Single-A Salem RidgeYaks on Wednesday.
Watch his swing here:
The ball landed in left field at his home Salem Memorial Ballpark in Virginia.
Ortiz, who is a right-handed hitter (unlike his lefty father), was promoted to Single-A midseason last year.
In 68 career games for Salem, Ortiz is slashing .254/.342/.308 with 29 RBI. He’s logged seven doubles and a triple, but has struck out 44 times.
Before getting promoted to Single-A in 2025, Ortiz played for the Florida Complex League Red Sox in rookie ball. His homer earlier this week was his first across 119 total games between the two teams.
Ortiz’s power, of course, isn’t quite up to his father’s peak. David Ortiz, a 10-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion, hit 541 career home runs during between 20 seasons with the Minnesota Twins and Red Sox.
In fact, it took David Ortiz a bit of time in the minor leagues to find his power swing. He played two years of rookie ball and accumulated only six long balls.
By his third and fourth seasons in the minors, the elder Ortiz hit 18 and 31 home runs, respectively.
D’Angelo Ortiz will always receive comparisons to his father for as long as he plays baseball. Boston selected him in the 19th round of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Miami Dade Community College, but not because of who his father is.
“It means a lot to the organization but I want to make it clear that D’Angelo is a prospect,” then-Boston director of amateur scouting Devin Pearson told MassLive after the draft. “The reason we selected him is the result of a relationship that our area scout (Willie Romay) has had with the player for a long time. We had him at a workout recently and got to interact with him. It felt like it was a good add to the organization. It’s a plus his dad is David Ortiz but we drafted him as a prospect.”
D’Angelo Ortiz has played little designated hitter since being drafted – three total games, to be exact. Ortiz has primarily played first base, with some time at third and a couple of innings at second.
Ortiz told Boston.com in 2024 he wants to make a name for himself, one separate from his father’s.
“I want to be D’Angelo,” Ortiz said. “I take pride in my dad being who he was, and now it’s time for me to take pride in being me and just focus on that.”
Kaley Brown
Kaley Brown is a sports producer for Boston.com, where she covers the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.
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