The New York Mets took University of New Orleans pitcher Eric Orze in the fifth round, 150th overall, of baseball's amateur draft on Thursday night.

Orze is a two-time cancer survivor.

The 22-year-old missed part of the 2018 season and all of 2019 to recover from multiple operations while fighting off 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.

"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."