The 22-year-old pitcher out of the University of New Orleans was unable to compete in part of the 2018 season and all of the 2019 season as he recovered from multiple operations and battled testicular cancer and skin cancer.

“This is a kid that will not quit. He really won’t,” Mets vice president of international and amateur scouting Tommy Tanous said on a video call.

“Our scouts fell in love with his split-finger, to tell you the truth. He throws a heavy, heavy fastball and he uses that split as his out pitch, his strikeout pitch. He accumulated tremendous numbers this year, and we felt it was a great value there. To get that kind of arm with that kind of out pitch there was a great way to end the draft. So, obviously, this is a high-makeup kid, high-quality kid who happens to have a really gifted pitch.”

Orze was a big recruit for New Orleans, but had a disastrous first season, giving up 15 runs in 16 innings while battling abdominal pain. It was far more serious than Orze could have imagined.

“At first I laughed at the doctor when he first told me,” Orze told WDSU of the testicular cancer diagnosis. “You don’t expect something like that. Then about five minutes into it, I just remember looking down at my hand shaking and I just lost it and started crying like a baby.”

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After a series of surgeries over the summer, including one to remove a tumor and another to remove a lymph node, Orze was ruled cancer-free.

In July, doctors found a swollen lymph node and as a precaution, surgically removed it. Again, Orze’s tests came back negative and he was cancer-free. But Orze returned later that summer to treat shortness of breath.

A doctor told Orze he had a mole on his back and he was ultimately diagnosed with melanoma.

“It wasn’t anything too crazy, it was just a nuisance at that point and I think I have four scares from that,” Orze said. “As soon as I got one done, I’d go back a month later and they would be, like, we found another one. So it just got annoying at that point.”

It cost Orze the entire 2019 season, but now he is healthy.

Before the 2020 season was cut short because of the coronavirus, Orze went 3-0 with a 2.75 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings. The Mets drafted him 150th overall out of 160 total picks in a draft cut from 40 rounds to five due to the pandemic.

“To go through what he went through a couple of years ago when it would have been easy to stop playing baseball or lose his purpose, and he never did,” Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said. “And so, he’s motivated and he wants the challenge of professional baseball, and we’re glad to be able to give him that opportunity.”