Scott Olsen

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

Along with the shoulder and performance problems, Olsen has been dogged by issues about his attitude. These have been different from, say, Lastings Milledge, whose purported issues were overblown before he came to Pittsburgh and resulted mainly from excess enthusiasm. Olsen by contrast was been convicted for DUI and resisting arrest while with the Marlins, and has also had a number of run-ins with teammates and at least one manager.

2002-05: Wasn’t well known when drafted, due in part to poor mechanics, but following adjustments by Florida’s coaching staff quickly established himself as top prospect. BA rated him the 38th best prospect in baseball prior to the 2005 season and 34th prior to 2006.

2006: Had outstanding rookie season, finishing fifth among NL starters in fewest hits per nine innings and seventh in K rate.

2007-08: Fell off badly in 2007. Velocity dropped only a little, but got hit much harder. Line drive percentage increased from 18.2% to 23.7%, and both groundball and popup rates dropped, along with K rate. Returned most of the way to 2006 numbers in 2008, except K rate plunged even further and velocity dropped from just over 90 to under 88 on average.

2009: Traded to Nationals. Had several good starts in April, but fell off in May and started having shoulder problems. Velocity did not rebound, although K rate did a little. Started throwing slider more often, fastball less often. Pitched only three times after mid-May and then had surgery to repair torn labrum.

2010: Joined Nats’ rotation in mid-April. Had outstanding five-game stretch from late April to mid-May, but started having shoulder problems again and pitched only once in June and July. After getting bombed on September 1, pitched only twice more in relief and was shut down with shoulder soreness. Velocity partly returned, as fastball averaged 89.6 mph. Continued throwing fewer fastballs (just 50%) and threw slider nearly a third of the time.

Olsen will draw a lot of comparisons to Zach Duke, whom he’s replacing in the rotation, but the two aren’t similar pitchers. Duke’s career K rate is 4.7. Olsen’s is 6.6 and he fanned far more hitters in the minors. In fact, if you count only full seasons, Olsen’s career-worst K rate of 5.04 is topped only by Duke’s 5.43 in 2010. Olsen also has allowed a career opponents’ batting average of .276, compared to Duke’s .300. This isn’t to say that Olsen will be better than Duke, but his ceiling, if he’s healthy, probably is higher. In spring training, however, he was hampered by a hamstring problem and wasn’t able to pitch much.  He also created a minor controversy when he made some comments implying he wouldn’t be amenable to pitching in relief.  He opened the season on the disabled list and it remains to be seen what his role will be if and when he gets healthy.

• Can earn up to $3 M in performance bonuses in 2011, based on starts.

2010: $1,000,000
2009: $2,800,000 (avoided arbitration)
2008: $405,000
2007: $380,000