Back to reality: Orr, Andreychuk enjoyed run
It is a fine line.
It turned out to be Michael Saunders, Rich Harden and Nick Pivetta from the Island and Brett Lawrie, Larry Walker, Justin Morneau, Jeff Francis, Adam Loewen, Ryan Dempster and James Paxton from the rest of B.C.
That list of major-leaguers in baseball could have just as easily included Kyle Orr, Griffin Andreychuk or hundreds of other B.C. players who were good enough to be in the minor-pro or NCAA collegiate streams.
That line is fine across all sports. On the ice, the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League have produced far more ECHLers than they have NHLers.
“The window is so short and you can’t take anything for granted,” said Orr, as he took batting practice with Andreychuk and the rest of the Victoria Mavericks all-stars Monday evening at Royal Athletic Park.
The Mavericks, who are preparing to host the Canadian senior championship next month at Royal Athletic Park, lost 15-4 to the Victoria HarbourCats in an exhibition game Monday night.
“I tell all the kids I instruct now, during coaching lessons, to just enjoy the experience of ball,” said Orr.
The six-foot-five slugging first baseman was selected in the fourth round of the 2006 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers and was the top Canadian picked that year. The MLB draft goes 40 rounds, so the fourth round is considered draft royalty by baseball standards, and Orr was paid a $435,000 US guaranteed signing bonus by the Dodgers with an additional $100,000 US added for future university tuition. Orr would end up needing the latter and it proved instrumental in his life.
The Lambrick Park Secondary graduate played four seasons in the Los Angeles minor-pro system, but a career pro batting average of .225 was not good enough to make the big time. So he fell back on the tuition money and let the Dodgers pay for his bachelor of commerce degree from the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria. He is now the residential sales manager for Pentair Thermal Building Solutions.
Orr, 28, still has that wide grin and amiable manner and stays involved in the sport through individual coaching lessons. He won the bronze medal at the 2006 world junior championship in Cuba, on a Canadian team that included Lawrie and Paxton; and played pro in France after leaving the Dodgers system.
“I chased the dream, saw the world, and got an education out of it,” said the B.C. Premier Victoria Mariners product.
“If you can look in the mirror, and say you gave it your all, then you can be satisfied. Because where it lands, is where it lands.”
B.C. Premier Nanaimo Pirates product Andreychuk never got that draft-day call, or a free-agent pro contract, after a stellar NCAA Div. 1 career at Seattle University which ended in June. But he can look up with pride at his name hanging on the grandstand in the HarbourCats wall of honour.
“That is so cool to see,” said the Andreychuk, an all-time alumni great for the HarbourCats, who was always reliable and productive at the plate.
Andreychuk now prepares with the host Mavericks team for the Canadian senior championship in August knowing his pro aspirations are probably over: “I talked to a few teams but got no offers. I was disappointed. But if it’s not in the plan, it’s not in the plan.”
The former Dover Bay Secondary basketball and soccer sporting all-rounder is considering law school and plans to stay in ball by coaching, both perhaps back at Seattle University.