John Orton

For the English playwright and author, see Joe Orton.

For the English screenwriter and director, see J. O. C. Orton.

John Andrew Orton (born December 8, 1965) is an American professional baseball coach and a former Major League catcher. In 2015, Orton will serve his tenth season as roving minor league catching coordinator for the Chicago White Sox. He is an alumnus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he was an all conference catcher.^[1] As a player, he threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 195 pounds (88 kg).

John Orton
Orton in 1988
Catcher
Born: (1965-12-08) December 8, 1965 (age 59) Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
August 20, 1989, for the California Angels
Last MLB appearance
July 4, 1993, for the California Angels
MLB statistics
Batting average	.200
Home runs	4
Runs batted in	29
Teams
California Angels (1989–1993)

Career

Drafted by the California Angels in the first round of the 1987 Major League Baseball Draft, Orton had a decade-long professional career, including parts of five seasons (1989–1993) with the Angels. In 1992, he set personal bests in games played (43), plate appearances (125), hits (25), home runs (2), runs batted in (12) and batting average (.219). All told, he collected 80 hits in 156 MLB games played, with 18 doubles and four home runs.

He became a manager in the White Sox' system in 2001, working for five years at the Rookie and Class A levels, before becoming a roving instructor.