The 6-foot-4 Orze made his debut with the Mets during the 2024 season, before the team dealt him to the Rays for Jose Siri. He ranked 51st on Tampa’s seemingly endless prospect chart.
Orze did not make the Opening Day roster, but he appeared only two weeks into the season, and eventually posted a 3.02 ERA over 41 2/3 innings. The underlying stuff offers cause for some concern, including a 4.65 xFIP and a 10.7% walk rate. Tampa optioned Orze back to Triple A in July, but the decision allowed some tinkering that pushed his game forward. Though trading with the Rays can be a dangerous game, the team often ends up with a roster crunch that pushes good players through their cracks; ask Joe Ryan.
Orze transferred from Northwest Florida State College to the University of New Orleans, before he discovered that he had testicular cancer in 2018. When he was ready to return to the mound, the pandemic pushed him back to the sidelines. Despite the short track record, the Mets drafted him in the fifth round, as the 150th overall pick.
He relies on a splitter with lots of depth, which plays off a four-seamer and a slider. The splitter shows signs of wildness, hovering around 84mph and often dropping out of the zone to induce swings and misses—but without much luck getting strikes if hitters don’t chase. In that case, he pushes a fastball that comes in around 94 mph, from a true three-quarter arm lot. His slider has a fine spin rate, but hitters demolished for a .404 AVG and an .844 SLG last year. Prospect analyst Eric Lonenhiggen suggested last year that Orze could comp to Trevor Richards, if he could manage more strikes. (But, like the good Trevor Richards. Not the Twins version.)
Sent off in the trade is Jacob Kisting, drafted out of Bradley University in the 14th round in 2024. Kisting pitched mostly in relief for the Low- and High-A Twins affiliates in 2025, leaning on a high strikeout rate for an overall 3.79 ERA over 73 2/3 innings, and getting at least a couple votes from the Twins Daily staff for minor-league reliever of the year.
Like most prospects at this level, it’s hard to know exactly how he might develop, though never discount the Rays when it comes to developing monsters from anonymous relief arms
Expect Orze on the Opening Day roster. If the stuff is there, he could manage his way up the relatively open pecking order into a 7th- or 8th-inning role. The Rays generally left him as a one-inning guy, but called upon him a few times to go a second. If his stuff is less than stellar, he might do the same for the Twins.
