Daniel David Ortmeier (born May 11, 1981) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He made his major league debut on September 5, , with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

High school

Ortmeier was born in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, and played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

at Lewisville High School in Lewisville,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He was drafted by the White Sox in the 27th round out of high school, but opted to play for Coach Clay Gould at UT Arlington. He was redrafted in the 3rd round his collegiate junior year by the SF Giants and signed. His brother, Chris, was drafted by the Cubs out of high school, but went on to pitch at Navaro and Texas Tech.

Professional career

In his Double-A campaign in 2005, he hit 20

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s with 35

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s. He made his major league debut on September 5, 2005, with the Giants. Ortmeier started off with the Triple-A

Fresno Grizzlies The Fresno Grizzlies are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They are located in Fresno, California, and play their home games at Chukchansi Park, which was opened in 2002 in ...

. He was called up briefly to the Giants and then returned to Triple-A. He struggled with a knee and a wrist injury, he finished the year with the Double-A

Connecticut Defenders The Connecticut Defenders were a Minor League Baseball team based in Norwich, Connecticut. The team, which played in the Eastern League, was the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major-league club from 2003 until following the 2009 ...

. Ortmeier had knee surgery prior to the season, but was fully recovered by

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

. He was assigned to the Grizzlies for the start of the 2007 season, but was called up to the Giants twice. Ortmeier switched from playing outfield to first base due to the Giants' glut of outfielders. On September 7, he hit a

walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will not have an opp ...

to beat the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

AT&T Park Oracle Park is a ballpark in the South of Market, San Francisco, SoMa district of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). The stadium stands along San Francisco Bay ...

. Ortmeier competed for the starting first base job in spring training, but lost the competition to

Rich Aurilia Richard Santo Aurilia (; born September 2, 1971) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1995 and 2009 for the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, and Cincinnat ...

. At the request of the team, Ortmeier gave up switch hitting in favor of batting exclusively from the right side. In 2007, he batted .240 at the Triple-A level as a

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

hitter. On April 9, 2008, Ortmeier batted as a

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

hitter against a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the first time since and hit a game winning RBI

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

against

Heath Bell Heath Justin Bell (born September 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. As a closer (baseball), closer with the San Diego Padres from 2009 to 2011, Bell was a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star Game, All-St ...

. In August 2008, he went back to switch-hitting. On January 14, , he signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies. In November 2009, Ortmeier was granted free agency.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortmeier, Daniel 1981 births Living people San Francisco Giants players Baseball players from Tennessee Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball first basemen Baseball players from Chattanooga, Tennessee UT Arlington Mavericks baseball players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players San Jose Giants players Norwich Navigators players Connecticut Defenders players Fresno Grizzlies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players