* Peter Orr  (Richmond Hill, Ont.) may have been wearing a Nashville Sounds camo uniform, but there was no hiding the fact he had a great year at the plate, batting .301 with 30 extra-base hits. Orr, a former Ontario Blue Jay who played for coach Gary Wilson, has re-signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. .... 2014 Canadians in the Minors … Canadians in College 2015 Canadian draft list 2016 Canadian draft list  Letters of Intent

 

By Bob Elliott Infielder Peter Orr is back with the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Orr (Richmond Hill), Ont.) resigned with the Brewers and will have an invite to big-league camp next spring.

The infielder hit .301 with the triple-A Nashville Sounds last season. Orr, 35, had 20 doubles, six triples, four homers and 41 RBIs in 113 games with a .752 OPS.

The left-handed hitter batted .244 against lefties and .320 facing right-handers. He hit .294 at home and .308 away.

And Mr. consistency hit .301 in day games .... .301 at night.

Orr’s best game of the season was an April 13 5-3 win over Omaha as he went 3-for-4 with a double, homer and three RBIs. He had six other three-hit games and 20 two-hit games, batting .338 the final month for manager Rick Sweet.

He was one of six Canadians in the Brewers organization this summer: RP Jim Henderson (Calgary, Alta.), RP Dustin Molleken (Regina, Sask.), INF Taylor Green (Burnaby, BC), C Joey Paciorek (Maple Ridge, BC) and Dustin Houle (Langley, BC).

Orr is in his second season with the Brewers and his 13th in the minors, including five years with the Atlanta Braves, three with the Washington Nationals and three more with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Orr played for coach Gary Wilson with the Ontario Blue Jays and was drafted in the 39th round by the Texas Rangers. He Orr chose to attend Galveston College and play for the Whitecaps. The Braves signed him as a free agent by the scout Jim Kane (Brampton, Ont.) in 1999.

The infielder has spent parts of eight seasons in the majors and is just shy of five years of service in the majors. Represented by Blake Corosky, the first Toronto agent accredited by the Player’s Association, has played in 443 games with the Braves, Nationals and Phillies.

His last game in the majors he pinch hit for Mauricio Robles and singled for the Phillies against David Hale in a 7-1 loss to the Braves before 27,858 fans at Turner Field Sept. 26, 2013.

He was part of the inaugural Ontario Blue Jays Hall of Fame class along with INF Tyler Johnstone (Brampton, Ont.), OF Adam Stern (London, Ont.) and LHP Drew Taylor (Leaside, Ont.) in 2012.

Orr may have worn Braves navy, scarlet and white, the Nationals red, blue and white as well as the Phillies red, white and blue official colors, yet the uniform Orr is most associated with is the red and white of Canada.

Orr was made the most defensive plays as Canada lost in the ninth to Cuba in the ninth inning of the Athens Olympics in 2004, as well as being a member of Canada in the 2006, 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classic team.

As always there is plenty of east-west rivalry. Once in Phoenix when players from west were bragging and players from Ontario were shooting barbs back towards the back of the buss, the usually reserved Orr hit the winning return volley.

“If BC is the best,” asked Orr, “how come all the players live elsewhere? Jeff Francis is in London, Ryan Dempster in Denver,, Justin Morneau in Arizona?”