Eric Orze stared at his TV screen in disbelief. He had just gotten off the phone with Jet Butler, an area scouting supervisor for the New York Mets, who told him the club was going to select him in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB draft. MLB Network’s Matt Vasgersian announced the pick on television, and Orze’s family and friends supporting him in their Carol Stream, Ill., home rejoiced. Congratulatory messages poured in. But Orze was fixated at the screen in front of him. He didn’t know how to react. Scream? Jump up and down? Cry?
“I don’t even know how to describe it,” he says of how he felt hearing his name called.