Three Crawdads Win Rangers Minor League Awards

Hickory, NC- The Texas Rangers revealed their 2023 Minor League Award Winners, with three Crawdads picking up hardware. Abimelec Ortiz was named the Tom Grieve Player of the Year, Jose Corniell won the Nolan Ryan Pitcher of the Year, and Daniel Mateo nabbed the Defender of the Year Award.

Ortiz, 21, batted .294/.371/.619/.990 (115-391) with 33 home runs, 20 doubles, 101 RBI, and 49 walks in 109 games between Down East (A) and Hickory (A+) in 2023, leading all Texas farmhands in home runs and RBI. He finished the campaign ranked among all minor leaguers (min. 300 PA) in slugging pct. (4th), home runs (T4th), RBI (T7th), and OPS (11th), while his 33 home runs were the most by any Rangers minor leaguer since Matt Davidson in 2019 (33). Following a promotion to High-A on May 23, the Puerto Rico native went on to earn South Atlantic League Most Valuable Player honors after slashing .290/.363/.624/.988 (84-290) with a league-high 26 home runs and 81 RBI for Hickory. He was signed by Texas as a non-drafted free agent on July 28, 2021.

Corniell, 20, combined to go 8-3, 2.92 ERA (33 ER/101.2 IP) with 119 strikeouts/31 walks across 23 appearances/17 starts with Down East and Hickory in 2023. His career-high 119 strikeouts were the second-most among Texas minor leaguers (140-Robert Dugger), while his 8 wins ranked T3rd in the organization to Grant Wolfram (10) and Cody Bradford (9). The right-hander was named SAL Pitcher of the Month for August after posting a 3-0 record, 1.55 ERA (5 ER/29.0 IP), and 32 strikeouts/5 walks in 5 games/starts. He recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in the Crawdads’ 3-2 defeat in Game 1 of the SAL Divisional Series on Sept. 12 vs. Greenville (L, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R-1 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO), which was his first-ever postseason outing. The Dominican Republic native was acquired by the Rangers from Seattle, along with a player to be named later (shortstop Andres Mesa), in exchange for right-handed pitcher Rafael Montero on Dec. 15 2020.

Mateo, 22, made 106 starts in center field (104) and right field (2) with Hickory in 2023, committing errors on just two of 255 total chances for a .992 fielding percentage while recording six outfield assists. He was named the organization’s Minor League Defender of the Month for July after converting each of his 42 chances in the field (41 PO, 1 A) during the month. Mateo was signed by Texas as a non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic on May 14, 2019.

Blaine Crim, a 2021 Crawdad, won the True Ranger Award and Antoine Kelly was awarded the Reliever of the Year.