Garth Cale Iorg (born September 6, 1985) is a Canadian-born American former professional baseball player. He is the son of former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) player Garth Iorg and nephew of former MLB player Dane Iorg. Iorg played college baseball for the Alabama Crimson Tide. After his freshman season at Alabama, Iorg put his baseball career on hold to go on a Mormon mission to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal.Top 10 Prospects: Detroit Tigers

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

. November 20, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2016. He was drafted by the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

shortly before he returned from the mission. Iorg was ranked as the third best prospect in the Tigers organization by

following the 2008 season.

High school and college

Iorg was a four-year starter at Karns High School near

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. As a junior, he batted .489 with 20 RBI and 19 stolen bases. In his senior season, he batted .495 with 15 home runs and 57 RBI, while compiling a .698 on-base percentage and a 1.131 slugging mark. He also scored 52 runs and stole 34 of 36 bases. In his freshman and only season at Alabama, Iorg batted .280 with an on-base percentage of .331 and slugging percentage of .415 as the Crimson Tide's starting shortstop.

Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

After his freshman season at Alabama, Iorg served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Lisbon, Portugal. He told ''The Birmingham News'' that leaving Alabama had nothing to do with baseball. It was a matter of faith. While in Portugal, Iorg had little time for baseball. He had time to work out for about 30 minutes per day during the mission and once a week he had additional free time in which he often played soccer. While on the mission, Iorg was drafted by the

in the sixth round (211th overall) of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft. He returned from Portugal on July 14, 2007.

Minor leagues

Iorg began his professional career playing a total of eight games for the Gulf Coast Tigers and Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2007. The Tigers sent him to play Hawaii Winter Baseball for the North Shore Honu to work on his hitting. His winter season was cut short when he injured his hamstring in mid-October. In 2011, Iorg played 26 games with the

' Double-A affiliate Erie SeaWolves, and 88 games with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. In 2012, he played 7 games with the Class-A Lakeland Flying Tigers, and 47 games with the Mud Hens. At the end of the 2013 spring training season, the Tigers attempted to trade Iorg to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

, and when that fell through the Tigers released him. The Orioles signed him to a minor league contract on April 9, and assigned him to the Double-A Bowie Baysox. On June 6, 2013, he announced his retirement from baseball.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iorg, Cale 1985 births Living people 21st-century Mormon missionaries Alabama Crimson Tide baseball players Baseball players from Knoxville, Tennessee Baseball players from Toronto Baseball shortstops Bowie Baysox players Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Canadian Mormon missionaries Canadian people of American descent Erie SeaWolves players Gulf Coast Tigers players Lakeland Flying Tigers players Latter Day Saints from Tennessee American Mormon missionaries in Portugal Toledo Mud Hens players World Baseball Classic players of Canada 2013 World Baseball Classic players North Shore Honu players