Garth Cale Iorg is a minor league baseball player in the Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

 organization. He is the son of former Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 player Garth Iorg

Garth Iorg

Garth Ray Iorg is a former Major League Baseball player who played his entire career for the Toronto Blue Jays.-Career:After attending College of the Redwoods, Iorg was drafted in the 8th round in the 1973 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees...

 and nephew of former Major Leaguer Dane Iorg

Dane Iorg

Dane Charles Iorg is a retired Major League Baseball infielder and outfielder. He played for ten seasons for four teams, including eight seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is the brother of former third basemen Garth Iorg; they played against each other in the 1985 American League...

. Iorg graduated from Karns High School

Karns High School

Karns High School is a public high school in the Karns community of Knox County, Tennessee administered by the Knox County Schools public school district....

 in Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

 in 2004 and went on to play 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

Missionary (LDS Church)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

 to Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

. When he returned, he impressed Detroit Tigers scouting director David Chadd in summer workouts and was drafted by the Tigers in the sixth round (211th overall) of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft

2007 Major League Baseball Draft

The 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 7 and June 8, 2007...

. Iorg was ranked as the third best prospect in the Tigers organization by Baseball America

Baseball America

Baseball America is a magazine which covers baseball at every level, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in high school, college, Japan, and the minor leagues. It is currently published in the form of a bi-weekly newspaper, five annual reference book titles, a weekly podcast, and a...

 following the 2008 season.

High School and college

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

Mormon mission

After his freshman season at Alabama, Iorg went on a Mormon mission 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. 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

Gulf Coast Tigers

The Gulf Coast Tigers are the Rookie Level minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. The team plays in Lakeland, Florida, at Joker Marchant Stadium. The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball either as draftees or non-drafted free agents from...

 and Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2007. The Tigers sent him to play Hawaii Winter Baseball

Hawaii Winter Baseball

Hawaii Winter Baseball, based in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a professional baseball league located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It was loosely affiliated with Major League Baseball.-History:...

 for the North Shore Honu

North Shore Honu

The North Shore Honu were a minor league baseball team in the Hawaii Winter Baseball league. They are based in Waipahu, Hawaii. The name Honu is derived from the Hawaiian word for a sea turtle. They play their home games at the Hans L'Orange Field....

to work on his hitting. His winter season was cut short when he injured his hamstring in mid-October.