Kevin Orie Was The Cubs Third Baseman Of The Future (For A Moment)

Since Ron Santo was unceremoniously jettisoned crosstown to the White Sox, third base became a bit of a black hole for the North Siders. Following the December 1973 trade of Santo, this is the list of third basemen who logged the most innings there each season until 1997:

Bill Madlock
Steve Ontiveros
Lenny Randle
Ken Reitz
Ryne Sandberg
Ron Cey
Keith Moreland
Vance Law
Luis Salazar
Steve Buechele
Todd Zeile
Leo Gomez

That's 12 different starters over 24 years. Madlock and Cey had some decent seasons. But the rest was mostly dreck. Sandberg played one season at 3rd (1982) before moving full-time to 2nd. Moreland was a utility player who stood in as a passable third baseman in 1987.

A notable thing all 12 had in common? None were homegrown. Each player was acquired via free agency or trade. It appeared there was a curse at third base. Then, in 1993, the Cubs used their first-round pick on Kevin Orie out of Indiana University Bloomington. The West Chester, Penn. native came into the organization with high expectations, given the state of the hot corner.

He worked through the system quickly and reached Triple-A in 1996 after torching Double-A, pitching to the tune of an .883 OPS. This was good enough to rank him 42nd on Baseball America's Top 100 prospects list ahead of the 1997 season.

He opened the year as the Cubs' starting third baseman and held his own but still scuffled to a .239 average into May. A wrist injury sent him to the disabled list, and his first major league season was not off to a spectacular start. However, the resulting rehab stint did wonders for his bat. He hit an obscene .375/.460/.594/1.053 in 9 games in Triple-A before returning to the big league club.

From May 30 through the end of the season, Orie posted a solid .283/.348/.448/.796 slash with a .309 BABIP. His 2.3 fWAR was third on the team behind Sammy Sosa and Mark Grace, and his 101 wRC+ was fourth among Cubs with at least 100 games. The performance earned Orie some down-ballot Rookie of the Year votes and seemed to cement him as part of the next core.

That, unfortunately, did not happen. He opened the 1998 season with a dreadful .181/.241/.282/.523 batting line and was demoted to Triple-A. He also earned some notoriety amongst fans for his play in a May 6 game. Orie could not cleanly field a ground ball by future Cub Ricky Gutierrez during Kerry Wood's historic 20-strikeout performance. The play was ruled a hit rather than an error, ending the no-hit bid for Wood, and it would be the only hit surrendered in the game.

Orie once again posted incredible numbers in the minors and earned a call-back but didn't fare much better against big-league pitching. At the trade deadline, the Cubs gave up on their former top pick and prospect, sending him to the Marlins for pitcher Felix Heredia.

My note here is that I was reading the newspaper's agate/sports stats page the following morning while on vacation with my family, and I was quite unhappy when I saw the news. This was not the first, nor would it be the last, time the Cubs disappointed me.

Orie would hold his own with a .739 OPS in 125 games with Florida but was granted free agency following the 1999 season so the Marlins could make room for top prospect Mike Lowell. Orie would bounce around the minor leagues, playing in the Royals, Yankees, and Phillies organizations before returning to the majors with the Cubs for a brief 13-game run in 2002. He played several more seasons in the minors with the Guardians, Astros, Brewers, and Nationals before retiring after 2006. He finished with a .709 OPS in 316 MLB games against a .926 OPS in 498 Triple-A games and a 3.1 fWAR.

Following his retirement, Orie moved to Pittsburgh and worked in real estate before landing a gig as a commentator for 93.7 The Fan.

Orie was supposed to be the future at third base for the Cubs but became a mere footnote in a long dry spell at the hot corner. The Cubs would not have a steady presence there until a 2003 lopsided trade brought Aramis Ramirez into town. He would man the position until 2012. The Cubs' draft selection of Kris Bryant in 2013 and the quick promotion of the future World Series champion gave the club a homegrown asset at third. For a time, at least.

Are you interested in Cubs history? Then check out the Chicago Cubs Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Cubs uniform!