HOUSTON, Texas – Tiffin’s Cody Orr was among a wave of eight collegians signed as undrafted free agents by the Houston Astros after the conclusion of the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft.
With unique utility fielding versatility and dual pitching skills to match, Orr was officially signed as an outfielder by Houston to begin his professional journey. The positional announcement is similar to how No. 1 overall draft pick Spencer Torkelson played first base at Arizona State but the Detroit Tigers listed him as a third baseman on his draft night card.
The MLB Draft was reduced down to five rounds on June 10-11 as the sport awaits the green light to restart after negotiations from the players association and the owners have been ongoing throughout the summer.
The minor league baseball season has similarly also been placed on hold. Each draft selection holds an assigned slot value; after all five rounds were completed, MLB teams could sign any number of players for $20,000 contracts.
Orr was off to a blistering start for what was shaping up to be a junior season to remember. In nine games, he was hitting .412 with two home runs and 10 RBI. He came through in a save situation during his only appearance on the mound as Tiffin rolled out a 9-2 record before COVID-19 abruptly put a halt to the spring.
The junior from Rossford, Ohio, burst on the scene in the 2019 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship at PRASCO Park as the Dragons celebrated a league title and made the NCAA Midwest Region final vs. future league member Ashland.
He was a first team all-conference selection in 2019 by the league’s coaches and also earned Great Midwest Player of the Week honors in 2020.
As a sophomore, Tiffin’s first year with the Great Midwest, Orr was third on the team with a .349 average, first with 55 runs scored, third with 66 hits, first with five triples, sixth with 29 RBI, fourth with 25 walks, and second with eight stolen bases.
Following the collegiate season, Orr played for the Chillicothe Paints of the Prospect League and continued to rake, winning the league batting title with a .409 average. He also recorded nine doubles, a Prospect League record 14 triples, four home runs, 44 RBI, and 58 runs scored in just 46 games. He also went 1-1 with a 3.73 ERA in seven starts on the mound, recording 24 strikeouts in 31.3 innings. At the end of the summer, Orr helped lead the Paints to the Prospect League Championship and was named an East Division All-Star.
"First of all, I am so happy for Cody and could not more proud to have had him in our program," TU head coach Joe Wilkins said in the university’s statement. "Cody is everything you want in a student-athlete. He is the type of young man that makes you proud as a parent, makes you proud as a coach, and makes you proud as a teammate. He is one of those rare breeds that refuses to be outworked and pushes his teammates to be better."
Orr is currently the third Great Midwest baseball student-athlete awaiting the baseball season to get underway along with Minnesota Twins RHP Randy Dobnak (Alderson Broaddus), Texas Rangers SS Jake Hoover (Hillsdale) and Toronto Blue Jays RHP Brad Wilson (Ohio Dominican). Former Lake Erie OF Luke Raley is also knocking on the door to the bigs after finishing last spring in AAA Oklahoma City; he is part of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization via trade.
Wilson finished up 2019 in AA New Hampshire and Dobnak had a 1.59 ERA in his rookie year 28.1 IP after making his debut on August 8. Hoover was drafted in 2019 and played 53 games, primarily in Spokane short season.
Three student-athletes had their name called from Division II during the MLB Draft. As of Tuesday, June 16, seven from Division II had been signed as undrafted free agents according to
Baseball America's Tracker.