WNCC's Orta signs with the New York Mets

Story submitted by Jeremy Woznick, Star-Herald Sports Reporter For print version, buy the Sunday, May 20 Star-Herald

Ask Phillips Orta who his favorite major league baseball player is and he’s quick to answer Pedro Martinez of the New York Mets.

After being drafted by the Mets in the 10^th round of last year’s draft, Orta is now officially part of the same organization of his idol after signing a seven-year deal with the club Saturday afternoon at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff.

“This has been a dream all my life and today is a big day for me,” Orta said. “I’m happy to sign with the Mets and I’m thankful for the opportunity. It’s very exciting to be part of their team.”

After being drafted by the Mets in June, Orta decided to return to WNCC for his sophomore season. As the ace of the pitching staff, he helped lead the Cougars to their first regional championship in school history last weekend. WNCC had its season ended just a few wins shy of the JUCO World Series on Thursday in the NJCAA Western District Baseball Tournament.

After returning to his home country of Venezuela to obtain a work visa, Orta will report to the Mets’ minor league headquarters in St. Lucie, Fla., for extended spring training.

According to Larry Chase, area-scouting supervisor for the Mets, Orta will be there until the team breaks camp and he’ll probably end up in short-season rookie ball in Kingsport, Tenn., or the single A team in Brooklyn.

“I’ve had interest in Phillips since the first time I got to see him in the fall of 2005,” said Chase, who is in charge of scouting for the Mets in Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas. “Phillips has the potential to bring three above-average pitches to the table, which can translate into him being a No. 2 or No. 3 starter at the major league level in a few years. The last two years at Western Nebraska he’s learned to control the strike zone, and this year his slider has really improved. He throws strikes and locates his pitches very well.”

Chase, who is in his 17^th year with the Mets and has signed a number of players to big-league contracts most notably A.J. Burnett currently of the Toronto Blue Jays, believes the sky is the limit for Orta.

“The more time he gets on the mound, the better he’s going to get,” Chase said. “I think you’ll see him as one of our bright spots in the New York Mets organization in the next few years.”

Already bolstering a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s, Orta’s development as a pitcher was furthered this year with WNCC as he developed a slider that proved almost un-hittable on a regular basis.

Orta finished the season with an earned average under 2, and led the Cougars in strikeouts and innings pitched.

In the regional tournament in Lamar, Colo., last week, Orta pitched one of his best games of the season in a heart-breaking loss to the tournament’s top seed Trinidad State Junior College. Orta took a 1-0 shutout into the bottom of the ninth inning before the Trojans managed to rally for a 2-1 win on a walk-off home run.

Orta and the Cougars bounced back to reel off five straight wins to win the tournament, including two wins over Trinidad State on Sunday. The tournament-clinching victory saw Orta enter the game and record the save.

“He’s improved a lot since he came here to Western Nebraska,” WNCC coach Mike Jones said. “When he came here, he was a guy with a real live arm. Since then, he’s grown mentally as a pitcher and understands how to control the game. This season he learned how to throw his good slider, especially the last three or four weeks of the season. That completed him as a pitcher.

“It’s been fun watching him develop as just a guy with a strong arm, to a pitcher with the mechanics to control the strike zone and throw three pitches that can dominate a game.”

Orta is the first player to be drafted straight out of WNCC. Francisco Leandro, who played with the Cougars in 2002 and 2003, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 23^rd round of the 2004 draft after transferring to Central Missouri State where he earned NCAA Division II All-American honors.