An Interview with Ben Orloff

Ah, Ben Orloff. I was first intrigued by the man last season when this series of tweets came out. The Wizard. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. It turns out that Ben isn't the easiest guy to get to know. And I felt like a Stalkerazzi just trying to get a picture of him. It always seemed like he was extremely conscious of me and my camera, and it made me feel like I did when I tried to sneak a photo of the indigenous people of Ecuador, like I was rudely invading their sacred space. Yes, I was a little bit in awe of The Wizard.

When I told my friend Lee Street that I was going to try to interview Orloff when I was in Corpus Christi, Lee responded in hushed, reverential tones, "You mean the winner of the 2009 Brooks Wallace Award for the best college shortstop in the nation?" When I answered in the affirmative, I sensed a new-found respect from Lee for my courage in approaching The Man. The Myth. The Legend. The Wizard.

Ben is having a solid season at the plate, but it is his defense that earned him the nickname of The Wizard, bestowed upon him by Adam Bailey and Kiké Hernandez during the 2010 Tri-City season. Of Orloff, Corpus Christi Manager Keith Bodie told me, "Ben is a manager's dream. He's like having a coach on the field. He's a very heads up player and gets the most out of his ability. He just seems to be in the right place all the time and he does the right thing all the time, makes solid contact. He knows how to hit. He knows the situations."

Ben Orloff - May 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

I caught up with The Wizard over the Memorial Day weekend in Corpus. This is what he had to say (edited for brevity and clarity) ~

On playing for the Israeli team in the World Baseball Classic: "It was cool. We were out there in Jupiter at the Cardinals and Marlins spring training [facility]. Lots of good guys. Lot of guys we play against. Brad Ausmus was the manager, Gabe Kapler, Shawn Green, Mark Loretta, Andrew Lorraine, just awesome guys. It was also cool [that] we got to meet the Israeli national team. We got to hang out with those guys and hear what Israel's like and [we] met a lot of cool people too."

What has he accomplished and what is he working on?: "It's still early in the season. For me, what's been different this year is playing a lot of positions a lot early in the year. I've always played mostly short, a little bit of second, a little bit of third. This year I've played a little bit of short, a little bit of second, a little bit of third, a little bit of first, some DH, so it's been cool that way getting to play all four spots and kind of show that I can play all four spots, learn those positions and go out there and compete."

On the great Corpus defense: "Being an infielder, we try to take pride in our defense because that's a big part of the game. That's hopefully something that can show up 140 games [because] you're not always going to get three hits a night. So we just try to take pride in our defense. It's been a lot of fun on this team because we've got some guys, especially in the infield that can really catch it. Kiké [Hernandez], Johnny [Meyer], Jio [Mier], all those guys have been unbelievable so it's just fun to be part of that infield and take pride in doing that."

Any player on the team that he likes to sit back and watch?: "I think George Springer is pretty impressive and he's called Superman for a reason. He can just do things that you don't see many people do. He's a lot of fun to watch. And Johnny Meyer at third, it's a Web Gem a night. He's a lot of fun to watch too. I've known him since he was five years old so it's cool to play with him and see him play. [He] and my little brother are the same age and have played together since they were five."

What Astros pitcher would he least like to face?: "Paul Clemens is good. He's really good. He's a low to mid-90's guy, a big curveball, good changeup that he throws a lot. You don't see a lot of right-on-right changeups and he's got a good one so he's always a tough matchup in Spring Training."

How does he like Corpus Christi?: "This place is awesome. I love this place. The fans are awesome. First class stadium. I played at Round Rock in college and this is just like that place, first class, beautiful.The people who work here ... it's first class. I love it."

Something most people don't know about him: "I love college baseball and follow it all the time still right now, checking all the boxscores every day. That's what I want to be involved with when I'm done playing ... coaching somewhere in college."

Keith Bodie had some final words for me regarding Orloff, "If you look up the word baseball player in the dictionary, you would find Ben Orloff's name. He's an outstanding ballplayer." Jio Mier agrees with that assessment. As I was finishing up my interview with Jio, Orloff appeared outside the studio where we were speaking. I asked Mier about Orloff since I had already sensed that Ben would be reluctant to talk about himself. Jio told me, "He is Mr. Baseball. If there's one guy I look up to in this organization, it's [Orloff] by a landslide."

I'm not sure that I really got to know Ben any better, but his reputation was certainly solidified by what I saw from him on the field and by what others had to say about him. He may not be quite as remote and esoteric as the natives of Ecuador, but he is still a bit of an enigma to me. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. The Wizard.