C’s Chat – 2024 Vancouver Canadians 1B/OF #15 Brennan Orf – C's Plus Baseball

The latest C’s Chat is with 2024 Vancouver Canadians first baseman/outfielder Brennan Orf.

The only time the Toronto Blue Jays drafted somebody out of Southern Illinois University was in 1978 when they selected an outfielder/pitcher by the name of Dave Stieb in the fifth round. Stieb pitched for the SIU Salukis at their main campus in Carbondale, Illinois. It took until 2023 for the Jays to venture out to SIU again, this time at its Edwardsville campus, when they drafted Orf.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Orf attended Westminster Christian High School where he played first base and pitched. In his junior season of 2019, he batted .313/.456/.590 and recorded a 2.52 earned run average. Orf drove in five runs, including a two-run home run, to help the Wildcats reach the Class 4 state final. COVID cancelled his 2020 senior season on the diamond but not on the basketball court, reaching the 1,000 career points milestone.

Orf would head off to SIU-Edwardsville in 2021, but he was still close to home, as the campus was about 30 miles northeast of St. Louis. He had just 51 at-bats in his freshman season and belted his first collegiate home run. Orf bounced back with a successful summer college season with the Normal CornBelters of the Prospect League. There, he belted four homers with 28 runs batted in over 33 games with a .361 batting average, a .974 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and stole 13 bases in 14 tries.

That was a preview of what was to come in 2022 for Orf. He led the Ohio Valley Conference with a .492 on-base percentage that was bracketed by a .357 batting average and a .713 slugging percentage on the batting line. Orf racked up 24 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs, and drove in 46 runs. He won OVC Offensive Player of the Week honours and was a Second-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference selection. A second stint in summer college ball followed with the Elizabethton River Riders of the Appalachian League. It wasn’t quite as successful as his time in Normal but he still compiled a .391 OBP in 28 games, translating to a walk in just over 22 percent of his plate appearances.

A preseason All-OVC selection heading into 2023, Orf lived up to that billing by putting up even gaudier numbers for the Cougars. He batted .351 and led the OVC in on-base and slugging percentage at .506 and .759, respectively. Orf had 19 homers among 38 extra-base knocks and 48 RBI. He drew a walk just over 21 percent of the time and finished his three-year college career with 94 walks, eight more than his strikeout total. That led to Orf capturing First Team All-Midwest Region and First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference honours. That summer, Orf joined the Frederick Keys of the MLB Draft League where he would join future C’s teammate Bryce Arnold. In his 10-game stretch with the Maryland squad, Orf slashed .333/.529/.500 with two doubles, a triple and five runs batted in.

The Toronto Blue Jays would take Orf in the 13th round of the 2023 MLB Draft on the recommendation of scout Matt Huck. Orf’s signing bonus was $150,000.

Orf would continue to pile up the bases on balls in his pro debut with the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays by walking twice in his second, third and fourth games before hearing ball four once in the next three games. He enjoyed a three-hit night in a win against Fort Myers on August 5 and his first pro triple drove in two runs, including the game-winner, in Lakeland on August 9. Orf would get on base at least once in his first 30 games as a professional with the D-Jays, a stretch that ran from July 26 to September 5. Even though he was not hitting for power as he did not get his first professional home run with Dunedin, he ended the year with a .439 on-base percentage.

In 2024, Orf appeared in four games during Spring Training for the Blue Jays and collected an RBI single and scored a run versus Baltimore on March 19. His next destination would be Vancouver and his C’s debut was on Opening Day at Spokane on April 5 where—not surprisingly—he drew a walk in his first plate appearance and became the first C’s batter to reach base to start the season. Orf picked up his first two Northwest League hits at Spokane the next day as part of a streak that saw him reach base safely in his first six games with Monty’s Mounties. His first professional home run came in a win at Eugene on April 18 but arguably his finest moment of April did not produce a hit. In a game versus Hillsboro on April 14, Orf battled Vancouver, BC native Eli Saul to a 13-pitch at-bat with the Canadians down by four runs in the bottom of the ninth. Though Orf flew out to left, the C’s were able to rally for five runs for the come-from-behind walkoff victory.

It was a tough month of April for Orf but he began to emerge from his early season funk with a home run as part of a 2-for-2 effort with two walks in a May 3 victory at Tri-City. He tripled, singled and scored three times, including the winning run, in a comeback win against Everett on May 8. Orf capped off a 2-for-3 day with one walk by clubbing a game-tying two-run roundtripper in the eighth inning in another win over Everett on May 10. Another extra-base hit came for Orf in the form of a triple against Everett on May 12 but a shoulder injury sliding into third base sidelined him for the better part of two months. The mishap blunted Orf’s solid start to May in which he batted .333 in nine games.

After rehab stints with the Florida Complex League and Dunedin Blue Jays to begin July, Orf returned to Vancouver on July 19 and, spoiler alert, he drew a walk in his first at-bat against Spokane in which he had a single and another walk which drove in a run. On July 21, Orf delivered what was arguably the signature victory of the 2024 Vancouver Canadians. He doubled home the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the 10th for a comeback walk-off victory against Spokane.

As the summer progressed, Orf put together a solid August in which he batted .250 with a .386 on-base percentage and ended the regular season with an 11-game on-base streak.

Orf made some key contributions to helping the Canadians return to the postseason. He showed off his defensive chops with a leaping catch at the left field fence to take away a potential Quinn McDaniel home run in the playoff clincher against Eugene on September 5 and drove in a run with an RBI single and added a walk. In the Northwest League Championship Series against Spokane, Orf had hits in three games and reached base safely in all four. He had two hits in Game 1 on September 10, and his two-run single put the C’s ahead to stay in Game 2 on September 11. He walked and scored a run at Spokane in Game 3 on September 13 and contributed an RBI double and single in Game 4 on September 14 to end the postseason with a .357 batting average.

C’s Plus Baseball caught up with Orf during the team’s final regular season homestand against Eugene in September, just one day after he turned 23 years old. This interview has been edited for clarity.

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C’s Plus Baseball – When you got drafted, where were you when you found out?

Brennan Orf – I was at home with just my family and some friends and just got a call from my agent who said I was drafted by the Blue Jays. And I was like, ‘When’s that coming through?’ And he was like, ‘Right now.’ And my phone started blowing up, getting a lot of texts and everything. And shortly after, Matt Huck reached out to me, gave me a call, gave me all the information and congratulated me. And yeah, that was basically it.

CPB – Did you have any idea it was going to be the Blue Jays?

BO – The Blue Jays talked to me on day two and we couldn’t figure something out. So I really thought they were passing up on me after that but we agreed upon something and I’m happy to be a Blue Jay.

CPB – Having to wait that long, I’m sure that’s got to be kind of nerve-wracking as you’re wondering, ‘Are you going to get drafted?’ But that must have been a huge sigh of relief once you did.

BO – Oh, yeah, it was a big sigh of relief. After day two, you have a lot of feelings. You don’t know necessarily what’s going to happen in the draft. There’s a lot of questions. And, yeah, once it happened, I was just glad to get that off the table and just start my pro career, really.

CPB – You’re from the Missouri area. How did you get started in baseball?

BO – I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri so growing up, the Cardinals were big time then. Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, all of them. Just a lot of playoff success and just really fell in love of the game because of that and just always trying to go to games and see them play.

CPB – When you look back on your amateur career going up through high school, anything that stands out for you as far as maybe a favourite memory?

BO – I wouldn’t say there’s much a favorite memory. I think it’s just traveling around and seeing all the places that I’ve been because I played in three different summer leagues. Just seeing kind of how each place does baseball a little bit differently and just experience it at different places.

CPB – Speaking of summer leagues, you wound up meeting a future pro teammate in Bryce Arnold with the Frederick Keys.

BO – Yeah, it was a cool experience, you know, just playing with a lot of guys and everyone has the same goal. It’s just cool that we were both part of the same team and got drafted and signed by the Blue Jays. Just seeing him at draft camp, that was a pretty cool experience.

CPB – You also played some basketball as well. How did playing basketball help you as far as baseball? Do you think there were any transferable skills? I think we kind of saw that a bit the other night there with the leaping catch (September 5) but how did you like basketball?

BO – I really liked basketball a lot in high school. Had some pretty good success, scored 1,000 points. And my senior year, we did really well. But, yeah, I think there’s just a lot of on-the-court stuff or on-the-field stuff that translates and also just like the discipline and skills off the court or off the field that really transferred over.

CPB – Who would you say has helped you develop as a baseball player, whether it be high school, college?

BO – I’d say it’s probably my parents for the most part, just like always encouraging me and trying to push on for the most part. I feel like there’s always been a lot of teachers, coaches and stuff throughout my life that have helped as well, but my parents have always been there since the beginning and just always encouraging.

CPB – You went to SIU, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. How did you wind up there?

BO – They’re about 40, 45 minutes away from my house. I got an offer from them my junior year. I kind of wanted to stay close to home because my sister (Elizabeth Orf) played volleyball and she went to Marquette, which is about six hours, seven hours from my house. My family would always go every weekend to try to see games at least. So I really wanted to stay close so they could see me play throughout college. I loved the coaching staff. There’s everything you need there with the facilities and training room, stuff like that so I really fell in love with it.

CPB – You go down to Dunedin for draft camp. I’m sure there’s just a lot of people you get introduced to but what do you remember about your draft camp?

BO – I think what I remember most is just how amazing the facility is. I mean, they’ve invested a lot of money in that and you can tell that they really care about player development with just how nice everything is and how the fields are well kept and all the facilities are up to standard.

CPB – The Player Development Complex as you mentioned. I don’t know if you’re a big numbers or analytics guy but was there anything maybe you learned about yourself? Maybe the way you swing, your launch angle, exit velocity or anything like that?

BO – We have this Trajekt (pitching machine) and it basically simulates any pitcher you want and we got force plates that you swing on top of that so it’s just like kind of breaking down like what you’re good at and what you’re not good at and this is how we go from here and attack the offseason. That’s kind of how I went when I went there in the fall so I think that was a big help to me.

CPB – You got a bit of time with the Dunedin Blue Jays (in 2023). How did you find your first taste of pro ball?

BO – I really liked it. It’s a little different than college and summer ball but I think there’s a great group of guys in my draft class that I really enjoyed being with and just grinding every day.

CPB – Your walk rate and batting eye. How did you develop that? Is it just something you’ve always had or just something you really had to work at?

BO – I think it’s grown over time a lot. I think ABS (Automated Ball Strike challenge system) helped a lot in Dunedin (in 2023) but also in college, you’d always have like Trackman (tracking pitches) or something like that. I just always ask questions like ‘Where was that?’ and just like kind of figure out where it is in your swing.

CPB – Do you have certain keys you kind of rely upon when you step into the batter’s box or a certain approach?

BO – I think I always try to start like the other way and, you know, just naturally try to pull baseballs if they’re there but I really try to stick with going the other way. I think that’s a fundamental for me. Just try to keep going that way.

CPB – How did you find hitting in Dunedin last year?

BO – It was definitely a big time adjustment. The pitching’s a little better, obviously, and just the heat and just always being out there. I think it was a good to get my feet wet in pro ball and just figure out what I need to improve on for (2024).

CPB – You start (2024) here in Vancouver and you got your first professional home run in Eugene, a game that you guys went on to win, but is there anything you remember about that night?

BO – I was just very excited to get it out of the way. It was like a little struggle for it because I didn’t have it last year. But everyone was excited for me and my teammates were excited so it was just a very special moment.

CPB – Did you happen to get the home run ball by any chance?

BO – I did, yeah.

CPB – Excellent. Who got it for you?

BO – I think Cristian (C’s Technology Assistant Cristian Cordova) did.

CPB – Okay, good stuff. You certainly have had some memorable moments with the team. One being that 13-pitch at-bat. Even though it was an out in the end, the team was able to make that huge comeback. I think that was a huge key to the victory and you guys made that pitcher work for it?

BO – Yeah, we definitely did. We got, I think it was five runs all with two outs after that and I think that’s probably is my longest at-bat at least in the last five or six years of my playing career. That was just a cool experience. Even though I got out, (my teammates) were very excited for me and just continued on and eventually won that game.

CPB – Things were really starting to pick up for you in May. Then you get a triple, and unfortunately you were injured. That had to have been really frustrating, knowing you were starting to really get going at the plate.

BO – Yeah, I mean, obviously it’s something I just can’t control. But, yeah, it was a little frustrating, I dislocated my shoulder going to third and had rehab for a month or two. But I’m just happy to be back here with the team, especially with our playoffs (coming up). We clinched playoffs and get to play for something next week.

CPB – The rehab process in Dunedin. Did you meet any of the big leaguers who were rehabbing or did you cross paths with anyone like that?

BO – I feel like I crossed paths with the most was Joey Votto. It was cool. I took ground balls with him, hit with him a little bit and just hear him talk about the game and just life in general. It was pretty cool.

CPB – You come back to Vancouver. Number 15 was briefly occupied by Jamari Baylor. Was there any conversation about getting that number back?

BO – I don’t think he cared but yeah, Magic (C’s clubhouse manager Glenn Hall), our clubbie. He was just like ’15 is still here’. So I was like, ‘Alright, I guess I’ll take it.’ That’s about it.

CPB – Clinching night. You had two really nice catches, a sliding catch and then the catch over the (left field) fence. Talking about the catch over the fence, I mean, you did not give up on that ball. You really thought you had a chance for it.

BO – Yeah, Ash (C’s position player coach Ashley Stephenson) has been working with our outfielders with the last few weeks with wall balls. And I’m not going to lie, I’ve been struggling with it a little bit so it was just a big time to come through with that and not give up on a ball. I was just happy that I made a play for the team and kept it a tie game at that moment.

CPB – You started most of the year at first base and slowly but surely you’ve been seeing more time in the outfield. How’s that process been going, you know, trying to get used to moving from first base to the outfield?

BO – Yeah, it’s a little bit of a process. I played a lot of outfield my junior year, my last year in college. But here, I was playing a lot of first base and it’s just trying to get my feet wet again and just get used to it again. Just really trusting my reads and making the right decisions. I feel like for the most part and going after balls I think I can get.

CPB – One game I did want to ask you about the game against Spokane. You guys have had a heck of a time here in this ballpark but were able to win that finale. The team was down to the last strike, I believe, a couple of times, and then you came through with that game-winning hit. What do you remember about that game?

BO – I forget which pitcher it was, but it was a lefty (Welinton Herrera). He was throwing probably mid-90s (miles per hour). So I was just really trying to see it deep, and I got down in the count. I was just like, ‘Alright, just try to find a way to go the other way. Try to get on base.’ I didn’t think we were going to win it on that hit, but we found a way. Nick Goodwin slid in there and knocked the ball loose. It was big for us because, I mean, we’ve always struggled with them this year. And then the next series we had, we actually won 4-2, a whole series, so I think it was big time for us.

CPB – That had been a huge monkey off the back. They had your number but I guess knowing for you guys psychologically, like ‘Yes, we can beat this team if you play well enough.’

BO – It was definitely something that wasn’t said in the clubhouse but we all knew we were struggling against them and it wasn’t like we got blown out. It was always just close games we’d lose at the end or something like that. It was just always heartbreaking. It was big this last series we had against them to win four of six. Hopefully, we’ll take it in the postseason and do well against them.

CPB – How did you enjoy the postseason celebration with that victory against Eugene. What do you remember about celebrating that night?

BO – I’m just grateful we got the opportunity to do it and got the opportunity to play in the postseason again. I know Brent’s (C’s manager Brent Lavallee) prepared us for this and really, really, really wanted this for the staff and the players. I’m just happy for everyone that we get this chance.

CPB – Final question. The Canadians have five different uniforms—white, red, black, blue and gray. Do you have a favourite?

BO – I’d say for night games black, but I really like the all whites.

Brennan Orf File

Born – September 6, 2001 in St. Louis, Missouri
Height/Weight – 6-foot-2, 230 pounds
Bats/Throws – Left/Right
First Professional Hit – July 26, 2023, for Dunedin at Tampa. Singled in second plate appearance against Justin Lange.
First Professional Home Run – April 18, 2024, for Vancouver at Eugene versus Nick Morreale.
Uniform Numbers – Wore number 10 with the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars from 2021-2023. Wore number 27 with the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2023. Wore number 73 with the Florida Complex League Blue Jays and number 29 with Dunedin in 2024.
Walkup Music – “Prisoner of the Highway” by Ronnie Milsap.
Twitter – @brennan_orf
Instagram – @brennanorf