Eric Orze/Photo: New Orleans
Eric Orze, RHP
Ht: 6’3” Wt: 185 DOB: 8/21/97 (22)
Bats/Throws: R/R
School: University of New Orleans, Louisiana
2020 Stats: 19.2 IP, 22 H, 5 BB, 29 K, 2.75 ERA, 1.37 WHIP
Background
The final selection of the Mets’ 2020 Draft was Eric Orze, a right-handed pitcher out of the University of New Orleans. Orze’s path to the draft was a lot more difficult than most would have expected. Orze was first diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018 and shortly after that, he was diagnosed with skin cancer. Rod Walker of nola.com wrote a fantastic piece regarding Orze’s miraculous comeback to the diamond.
In the article, Orze says “I have to prove to whatever professional people come to see if I have the ability to play at the next level. A drastic change needs to happen to ensure I’m going to be able to do that if that’s really what I want. So cancer kicked me into overdrive.” I strongly recommend everyone check out the rest of the article because that one excerpt does not do justice to how powerful his story is.
Scouting Report
The righty lost a lot of weight after his two battles with cancer but used the 2019 offseason to get a lot stronger and get himself in baseball shape for 2020. Fortunately for Orze, he was able to resume playing baseball albeit, very briefly. Orze showed off a solid fastball/splitter combination in his 12.2 innings pitched. In those 12.2 innings, Orze had a 17-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio with a fastball that has touched 96 MPH.
He also has a slider but the splitter will be his go to secondary pitch in the future. Here is a video of his splitter in action:
Potential 2020 MLB draft pick Eric Orze splitter compilation from this season. #mlbdraft #mlbdraft2020 #mlbprospect #topprospect #splitter #splitfinger pic.twitter.com/HfpU2wc1Gh
— Brent Pourciau (@TopVelocity) April 20, 2020
I expect that to be a legitimate put-away pitch as he develops. He seems to have good command of it and it has crazy vertical movement. Vice President of International and Amateur Scouting, Tommy Tanous, has this to say about Orze’s splitter: “to tell you the truth. He throws a heavy, heavy fastball and he uses that split as his out pitch, his strikeout pitch.” He also referred to the splitter as a “gifted pitch.”
Development
Orze is likely to head towards the bullpen when he begins his professional career. Baseball America has suggested that Orze’s stuff drops off as he goes deeper into games. He would benefit to a move into the bullpen because he can let his fastball go as hard as it can in one inning stints.
Orze does not have a ton of experience so he might have to start at Columbia or maybe even extended Spring Training. If he can take off in the bullpen as expected though, I think he could play for the St. Lucie Mets in short order. He officially signed for $20,000, but the 2020 minor league season has been cancelled.
This might be seen as a money saving pick (which the Mets used to sign J.T. Ginn) but I think he has the legitimate stuff to be a MLB pitcher. Given everything he has gone through, trying to reach the majors will not be mentally challenging for him. He is definitely going to be a fan favorite if he ever does make the majors and it will be very easy to root for him.
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