Here an Iorg, There an Iorg, Everywhere an Iorg-Iorg

When the Detroit Tigers organization selected Cale Iorg with its sixth round pick in 2007 (and gave him more than $1.4 million), it took a flyer on a talented, toolsy player who had not played organized baseball in almost two years. It also added to the accomplishments of one of the larger, yet lesser known, baseball families.

The Iorgs are not as well known as the Boones or the Bells or even the Hairstons. But Cale’s father Garth was an infielder with the Toronto Blue Jays for nine seasons in the ’80s and uncle Dane was a utility player in the late ’70s and ’80s for a number of teams, including the Phillies, Cardinals and Royals.

Brother Isaac, now 29, was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 19th round of the 2001 draft out of Brigham Young University and spent four seasons in the minors before hanging up his cleats. Brother Eli was selected in the supplemental first round by the Houston Astros in 2005 and is currently in Double-A. Eli, 25, spent just one year on a Mormon mission during college and signed with Houston for $900,000, despite being drafted higher than Cale.

Although Cale, a shortstop, played college baseball for just one season, he was considered by many scouts to be the most talented ballplayer in the family. So far this season, the 22-year-old is hitting .260/.326/.415 in 246 High-A ball at-bats. He has eight homers and 12 stolen bases in 17 attempts. The weakness for all three members of the younger generation has been plate discipline and Cale is currently walking 7.8 percent of the time and striking out at a rate of 27.0 percent. Defensively, he has committed 11 errors in 59 games.

Although Eli could make it to the majors quicker than Cale, the younger brother appears to have the brighter future with an intriguing combination of speed and power at a premium position.