The headline to this article surprised me: “Ordaz placed on Disabled List.” Normally I keep pretty good track of former Cardinal scrubs, but could it really be–Luis Ordaz? 
As it turns out, it is; after a few years in Durham, the former punchless Cardinals infield “prospect” pushed his way onto a major league roster… and proceeded to get injured, after one game and two at-bats of filling in for Julio Lugo. Whoops.
A case could be made that Ordaz’s tenure is the most irrelevant of any major leaguer traded to and from the Cardinals. They acquired him, then 20, from the Reds in 1995 as part of a three-way deal in which the Cards lost Andre King, who never made it out of the minors. After 184 at-bats with a .239 slugging percentage, he was traded to the Diamondbacks in 1999 for Dante Powell, who garnered six at-bats–none with the Cardinals–after the deal.
But Luis Ordaz signed my cap–bottom of the brim, between Ray Lankford and Lance Painter–in Spring Training, 1999, so I’ll always remember the name.
The thing I remember about Ordaz is how storng his armed seemed from SS back in ‘98. When the ball would hit McGwire’s glove, man did it seem loud, even on TV.
Always felt bad for him, that he could never get a run of Bo Hart-like hitting before the pitchers figured him out.
Comment by CalvinPitt — April 5, 2006 @ 9:30 pm
I’ll always remember Ordaz for a couple of hellacious collisions he had with outfielders while running back for pop-ups. In his desire to please TLR with his hustle, he had a bad habit of not listening when an outfielder called him off, and then BAM! I seem to recall one very, very ugly collision in which he went face-first into the LF’s elbow and ended up with a broken nose and a concussion.
Comment by Gene — April 6, 2006 @ 11:45 am