LAKEWOOD, N.J. — It was 4:30 p.m. Monday, 13 hours after the Lakewood BlueClaws’ bus rolled in from a road trip to North Carolina, when Jhailyn Ortiz dug in for batting practice. He took a half-dozen rounds of swings and didn’t hit a single ball over the fence at FirstEnergy Park.
Consider it part of Ortiz’s maturation.
There’s always a temptation for the top power-hitting prospect in the Phillies farm system to simply muscle up, turn on a ball, and belt it to a faraway spot beyond the left-field fence. But that was how Ortiz got in trouble early in the season.