Cale Iorg Update
Cale Iorg Update
“I’m not gonna lie. It was money, 100 percent.”
That’s Cale Iorg, commenting on his decision to sign upon the return from his Mormon mission.
About a year ago I checked in on the Baby Jays and mentioned Cale Iorg, the son of Garth Iorg.
The youngest of Iorg’s three sons, Cale didn’t play an official baseball game from when he left for Portugal on a Mormon mission in July of 2005 until August of 2007. Garth said Cale had stayed in shape over those two years and had thrown a baseball, but hadn’t swung a bat.
Last week Iorg reported to the Tigers’ Spring Training camp a week after concluding his honeymoon in St. Lucia, after marrying his wife he did not see once during his 2 years in Portugal.
“He is a well-above average prospect,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland says. “He’s athletic, he has good instincts, there’s juice in his bat.
“He is what you categorize as being in the upper echelon of prospects. I think he’ll be a major league shortstop.”
Oh yeah, the money thing. The Tigers raged up Bud Selig’s blood when they went considerably over slot for their 6th round draft choice, which was recommended to be $123,500. Instead the Tigers cut Iorg a cheque for $1.5 million. Why so much? That was the price the Tigers had to pay to keep Iorg from heading back to the Crimson Tide at Alabama at the conclusion of his mission.
Were the Tigers not concerned that he might lose his skills after being laid off from the game for 2 years in prime developmental years?
“Nothing led me to believe that he’d lose those skills, even though for most of the time over there (Portugal) he couldn’t pick up a ball,” said David Chadd, the Tigers’ vice president of scouting who had seen Iorg play as a senior in high school, and at Alabama his freshman year.
“He might come back rusty, but he was going to figure it out. He’s got five tools,” added Chadd, who acknowledges that “the Iorg lineage was important to consider. He can run, he can throw, he can field, he can hit, and hit with power.”
I’m no scout, but it seems awfully risky to me to drop $1.5 mil on a player based on his “lineage”. I don’t mean to be a hater, but Garth was no stud. I am just a blogger, what do I know? What does Tigers GM Dave Dombroski think?
“We think Cale Iorg will be an All-Star.”
February 23, 2009
I had the opportunity to watch Cale twice last season when he was playing for Lakeland (high A), once against Dunedin and once against Clearwater.
He didn’t impress me but I could see why scouts like him. He has some athleticism and the body type that should continue to grow going forward.
When I watched Cale he booted some balls and showed very poor plate discipline.
A quick check of his stats in High A back this up. 18 errors along with 111K vs 35 BB. I’d be surprised if he gets anything more than a cup of coffee at the MLB level. Born in 1985 he’ll have to repeat High A at least for the beginning of the season.
February 23, 2009
Trust me Cale Iorg will be buying a cup of coffee for the entire world….hes an amazing ball player….you must have only seen one game. check him out….oh and by the way he is in double A, no need in repeating high A, and also dont you know he is at big league camp? Get your facts straight before you start undermining an allstar player!
February 23, 2009
Re: Lynn
Thanks for dropping by and sharing a comment.
Do you have the Iorg’s confused? Cale never played above A ball in the minors last season. Another son of Garth’s, Eli, played AA in 2008.
If you did mean Cale;
I watched two games but he didn’t impress me in the least. He’s a toolsy type of player that will have a hard time succeeding in AAA. At least that’s how I see it.
It takes more then some tools and a .251 average with 111 K (in just over 400 PA) as a 23 year old in high A to impress me. Of course I could be wrong. I guess we’ll see how his career goes over the next two or three years.
February 27, 2009
Update on Iorg vs. the Jays today: K, weak groundout, Russ Adams-style throwing error.
May 27, 2009
I had the pleasure of growing up with Cale and playing ball for many years with him. He has always been an amazing ball player.
August 14, 2009
The guy obviously can’t hit… rusty or not; he’s not going to catch up at this point, another flop for Los Tigres….
June 22, 2010
He is on his way to be an all-star player !
Trust me ! Remember the name: Cale Iorg !