Looking for one
superstar
By John Ring
The lifeline of any
baseball franchise isn't signing free agents or making sensational
trades— it's by scouting accurately and drafting the right players.
And that's why small market
teams, like the Minnesota Twins, can compete and play with the spenders of big
money like the Red Sox and Yankees.
Mike Olson is one of those
scouts. He coaches baseball at Peoria High School and is a member of the
Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame. Olson graduated from Richwoods High School,
attended Michigan State University and was an assistant baseball coach at
Bowling Green University before returning to Peoria. He's coached the Lions for
the last 20 years.
Olson is what's called an
associate scout and he does it for the Seattle Mariners. He's been with Seattle
for three years after serving in the same position with Kansas City for 10
years. He was attending a Galesburg Pioneers game last Saturday night at Jim
Sundberg Field.
"I scout Central
Illinois for the Mariners," said Olson. "My boss is out of Rockford.
I watch a lot of CICL games, legion games and of course, high school baseball
games."
"Here's the problem
for scouts," said Olson. "I watch a lot of games and see a lot of
kids. When you find someone real good, so do a lot of other guys. The great one
stand out. If a kid here hits forty home runs, everyone in the world is going
to know about him. You may rank a kid real high and think to yourself that this
is a kid we can draft in the 13th or 14th round. But another team may have him
higher."
"That's what happened
with Jeremy Pickrel. I watched him for years and knew he was a good prospect.
The only problem was the Twins liked him more and they took him in the tenth
round. We were going after him in the 12th or 13th round. But I'm proud of the
way he's playing with the Twins."
"He's moving up. As
long as he's progressing and doing what they're telling him, he'll be up in
Double AA and then, you're a phone call away. If you can get to AA, you can
make it."
So if the obvious thing
isn't there— like the 98 mile per hour fastball or the great power or the
.400 batting average— what three things does Mike Olson look for in a
player?
"The first thing I
want to see is if a player runs on and off the field, I want to see someone
that hustles down the line, I want to see someone that loves the game. Pete
Rose was that way. David Eckstein is that way. There's a lot of players faster
or quicker or better athletes but tell me you wouldn't want a guy like Pete
Rose on your team. He got the job done everyday. All these kids are good or
they wouldn't be playing college baseball. They're good or they wouldn't be
playing. "
"C'mon, there's a lot
of guys with talent. But there's a lot of guys that don't have the heart."
Olson has a love affair
with the CICL as well. "I coached and played in this League since 1963.
When this league was at its peak, like in the late 1960s, you couldn't find
better baseball anywhere in Central Illinois. This league was the best, it was
better than the Cape Cod league or the Mason League. That's why I hope it takes
off here in Galesburg. That would be a
great thing to see. I'd love to see fans give this team a chance."
"But aside from that,
the three things I look for are foot speed, arm strength and hitting for
power."
Pitching is a different
manner for Olson. "With righthanders, they need to throw harder, right in
the 92-95 mile per hour range. You have to have the arm speed. Lefthanders are
a bit different, they can be in the 85-88 range. But I could never recommend a
righthanded pitcher that was throwing 81 or 82 miles per hour. There's no way.
We like to see them bigger, too. A righthanded pitcher can develop and if he's
6'3" or 6'4", things can take off for him."
"Some of these guys
playing here tonight are going to be moving on towards the major leagues. My
job is to find out who they are, to figure out which ones are going to do that."
Olson said the hardest part
of his job isn't the travel or the time away from home. "It's watching
certain players and not being able to focus in on the game."
He's also attended the
College World Series the last two years. "I think that event is getting
some legs. It's basically the Final Four and there were twenty thousand fans
there for every game. The biggest fan base for college baseball right now is in
the Southeastern Conference. They drew a million and a half fans there this
season alone."
Olson doesn't get a
paycheck from the Mariners— excluding expense money— unless Seattle
drafts and signs one of his guys.
Asked who the best player
to come out of Central Illinois during his tenure, Olson paused for a few
seconds before answering. "Jim Thome."
Olson wouldn't claim a
favorite team in major league baseball. It was the only question he avoided.
"I'm just a baseball fan," he laughed.
Later in our conversation,
he also mentioned a Galesburg native that may be drafted in the future.
"Kyle Hunter, I think
his name is. I saw him at a tournament in Peoria last year when he pitched
against Notre Dame. I think he lost 2-1. I saw him pitch again this year
against Richwoods. He's a young man, I think he has a chance to get drafted if
he keeps after it."
And maybe Mike Olson can
have some claim to fame for that as well.