Kevin Orie

Infobox MLB retired
name=Kevin Orie


width=150
position=Third baseman
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1972|9|1
West Chester, Pennsylvania
deathdate=
debutdate=April 1
debutyear=by|1997
debutteam=Chicago Cubs
finaldate=September 26
finalyear=by|2002
finalteam=Chicago Cubs
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.249
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=22
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=116
teams=
* Chicago Cubs (by|1997-by|1998)
* Florida Marlins (by|1998-by|1999)
* Chicago Cubs (by|2002)
highlights=

Kevin Leonard Orie (born September 1, 1972 in West Chester, Pennsylvania) is a former Major League Baseball third baseman. He is an alumnus of Indiana University, where he was a standout for the Hoosiers baseball team.

Chicago Cubs

Orie made his Major League Baseball debut on April 1, mlby|1997, as a member of the Chicago Cubs. It was in his rookie year of 1997 that Orie would put up his best career statistics. In 114 games played, Orie compiled a .275 batting average with 8 home runs and 44 RBI. Orie was a finalist in the 1997 MLB Rookie of the Year Award balloting, losing out to the eventual winner, Scott Rolen.

Florida Marlins

Through the first 64 games of the mlby|1998 season, Orie got off to a dismal start, compiling only a .181 batting average in over 200 at-bats. Subsequently, on the last day before the July 31 trading deadline, the Cubs sent Orie and minor leaguer Todd Noel to the Florida Marlins for Felix Heredia and minor leaguer Steve Hoff.

After concluding the 1998 season with the Marlins, Orie would remain with Florida for the entire mlby|1999 season, tallying a .254 batting average with 6 home runs and 29 RBI while appearing in 77 games.

Free agency

After the 1999 season, the Marlins needed to make room for their future third baseman, Mike Lowell. This made Orie expendable. On November 12, 1999, the Marlins sent Orie to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a conditional deal. Although Orie put together an impressive spring training with the Dodgers prior to the mlby|2000 season, the club already had two established third basemen on their roster: Adrián Beltré & Dave Hansen. Thus, the Dodgers released Orie on March 29, 2000, days before the season would begin.

Two months later, on June 15, 2000, Orie signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals, only to be released two months later. The next suitor for Orie turned out to be the New York Yankees, who signed Orie two days after his Royals release. He would remain in the Yankees minor league system the entire 2000 season, without making a single appearance at the major league level.

After the 2000 season, Orie would once again be released. He would sign another free agent contract prior to the by|2001 season with the Philadelphia Phillies, and once again spend the length of the season in the minor leagues. He would then be released.

On November 19, 2001, Orie would be signed by one of his old teams, the Chicago Cubs. He would appear in 13 games with the Cubs in mlby|2002, serving as a backup to starting third baseman Bill Mueller. On March 12, by|2003, Orie's second stint with the Cubs would end.

Over the next three years, Orie would be signed by three more teams: the Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and Milwaukee Brewers. He would not appear in the majors with any of the teams.

2006

Spring training in preparation for the 2006 season would find Orie once again in camp with the Houston Astros. Although Orie had played in only 13 major league games since the 1999 season concluded, he compiled impressive numbers every year in the minor leagues. Many thought that Orie still had the potential to stick in the major leagues and serve as a valuable backup third baseman for a number of teams. Orie didn't make the Astros and was assigned to the Triple-A Round Rock Express. Orie retired after the first game of the season.

External links

*baseball-reference|id=o/orieke01
* [http://www.tireball.com/behindthedugout/profiles/kevin-orie/ Kevin Orie]