New Arrival: Tyler Olson, rp, Cleveland Indians

It always sucks when a player on your favorite team is having a breakout season and you don’t have an autograph. Tyler Olson is one of those. Luckily, after 4 months of trying, I finally was able to snag my first one.

• Tyler Olson was drafted in the 7th round out of Gonzaga by the Seattle Mariners in 2013.
• Had a good curveball and changeup that made up for the less than stellar fastball. Also working in his favor was that he was a lefty and showed a good feel for pitching.
• Ended 2014 in AA ball. Went 10-7 with a 3.52 ERA over 125.1 innings. Allowed 126 hits, 100 K’s and only 25 walks. Looked like a decent prospect, though probably not much more than a #4 or #5 starter.
• In 2015 he was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training and made the major league team as a pen arm. His value was that he was a lefty who could pitch in long relief. He was not great: 13.1 IP with a WHIP of 2.10. He would spend most of the year in AAA bouncing between the rotation and the pen. He would end the season with 54.1 innings in AA–54 total appearances including six starts–and allow 61 hits, striking out 53 with 17 walks.
• In late 2015 he was sold to the Dodgers, then a couple weeks later was traded to the Yankees.
• He struggled for the Yankees in 2016, both in a brief stint in the majors and in AAA. Was put on waivers, and snagged by the Royals. He was not much better with the Royals AAA squad, but on waivers again, and picked up by Cleveland. And…again…not so great in AAA Columbus. Just a rough year all round.
• But something happened in 2017. With AAA Columbus he pitched 42 innings, allowing 28 hits, striking out 54 walks and walking 12. The Indians clearly liked what they saw and called him up to the majors.
• His stat line with Cleveland is nuts: 19.2 inning. He has allowed 13 hits while striking out 17 and walking 6. His ERA? 0.00. No ER allowed. 0.97 WHIP.

They say you don’t grow a bullpen as much as you build it. Clearly, someone in the Indians front office saw something in Olson and were smart enough to grab him when the chance arose. He has become part of one of the best pens in the game–almost in the history of the game–and there is no reason to think his success is smoke and mirrors. Clearly, he won’t be able to keep his ERA at 0.00 forever, but I think that he has the tools to be a long-term piece of the Indians pen for their contention window.