DANIEL ORR
By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
There’s a chance the West Sound will have produced another professional baseball player once the Major League Baseball Draft is completed in early June (8-10).. Yes, one of the good guys – Daniel Orr – may get his shot of making the Major Leagues when it’s all said and done.
The 6-foot, 200-pound Orr, a Corban University senior from Kingston High School by way of Gonzaga and Everett Community College, has the tools to be a prospect at the pro level. He’s a gold-glove type defender at first base and has shown throughout this career that he’s a solid .300 hitter who in his two years at Corban University in Salem, Ore. has developed some pop in his bat.
He already has been sniffed at by several clubs, including last year when it looked like the New York Yankees would take a shot and draft him. Prior to last year’s draft, Orr, the son of Alan and Kim Orr, filled out paperwork for the Yankees, Florida Marlins and Houston Astros along with the Major League Scouting Bureau.
“Two weeks before the draft the Yankees told me that if they drafted me it would probably be from rounds 10-15,” Orr said. “Then, after about 20 rounds had gone by on draft day one of their scouts called me and told me they would try to draft me in the later rounds.”
They didn’t, but if they had it are likely Orr would have signed. He is again on the bubble again this year with the draft. He was injured (back) early this season and has had a nagging hand injury that has caused him to struggle through most of Corban’s season. But Orr has gotten hot the past few weeks and going into the regular season’s last two games Friday and Saturday (April 24-25) at home against Simpson (California) College he is batting .288 with two home runs and 29 RBI for the Warriors, 10-14 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference and 22-17 overall.
“He had a tremendous junior year,” says Corban coach Jim McKay, who owns the select baseball organization Baseball Northwest and was for 27 years a Major League scout. “He was first team all-conference and probably was runner-up offensive player of the year. He just really, really exceeded my expectations.”
Orr last season led the Warriors in batting average (.374), starts (53 games), at-bats (211), hits (79), doubles (23), triples (4), home runs 3) and RBI (48). On top of those glowing statistics, Orr was exceptional at first base with 24 assists and a .990 fielding percentage.
“He’s a great individual and a great leader,” says McKay. “He kind of got off to a slow start out of the gate this season. The last three weeks he’s been the old Daniel.”
Orr started out his post-high school career at Gonzaga where he redshirted is freshman year. Then on top of hat he broke his hamate bone in his hand. He stayed at Gonzaga through the fall baseball season of his second year, but got disillusion with the program and transferred to Everett Community College where in his second year there he helped lead the Trojans to the NWAACC championship and was named all-conference.
“That is one of my favorite baseball memories,” says Orr. “It was a really cool experience. I’m glad I ended up going there.”
Orr had a choice between playing for North Carolina State or Corban and he choose Corban, which is a Christian school, because he felt more comfortable with the school but also because McKay, a known hitting guru was there. McKay has known Orr from Baseball Northwest and from Orr’s days at Kingston, and tired hard to get him to Corban right out of high school.
“I thought we were going to get him, and then he went to Gonzaga,” says McKay.
It is McKay who has tinkered with Orr’s hitting, getting his timing down and convincing him that he would be a better hitter if he adjusted to each pitcher on each pitch.
“He’s got real good hand-eye coordination, real good balance in his stance and adjusts from pitch to pitch, and not a lot of guys do that,” says McKay.
“He has been really great,” says Orr of McKay. “He’s helped me develop my swing so I can take that to the next level. One of the main reasons I came to Corban is his experience in professional baseball and his knowledge as a hitting coach. I showed glimpses of power at Everett, but he has helped me show some power. “
Orr will be four classes short of getting his business management degree and if he doesn’t get drafted by a Major League club will likely return to Corban this coming summer or next fall and finish his degree and move on with his life from there.
But Orr would love to be playing baseball somewhere this summer. He spent the summer of 2013 as a Kitsap BlueJackets and last summer with the Cowlitz Blackbears in the West Coast League. Since that league is for college players, Orr does not have that option, so if he’s playing it means he has been drafted.
“It’s still the goal,” says Ore. “I’m still chasing the dream.”
Orr has played the game since he was six and he has no plans on quitting now.
“God has blessed me and I’ve had a lot of fun being able to play,” says Orr. “I just want to work hard and make the most of it while I can.”