Inductee In An Instant

We say hello to an Inductee with a swing that was so, so sweet...

Born: August 5, 1968 (Seattle, WA)

6ft-5in/205 lbs

B/T: L/L, First Baseman

Drafted twice. Firstly by the NY Mets, 27th round selection in the 1986 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Interlake HS (Bellevue, WA) but did not sign and chose to attend university. The second time he was selected was in the 3rd round (79th selection overall) of the 1989 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays out of Washington State (signed for $525K).

While At WAZZU:

• All-American as a true freshman (1987) playing as a 2-way player (.414, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 8-2, 3.00 ERA)

• In 1988, they were a consensus All-American as a 1B (.464, 23 HR, .876 SLG) and Pitcher (15-0, 2.49 ERA, 113 K) while also being named Baseball America College Player Of The Year

• Prior to the 1989 season in Pullman, he suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage and was able to return to finish the season hitting .359 with 5 HR and 30 RBI while going 3-2 with a 6.68 ERA on the mound

MLB Debut: September 3, 1989 vs Minnesota Twins (1 AB, 1 H)

*made MLB debut without spending any time in the minors

15,690th player in Major League history

Last Game: October 2, 2005 vs NY Yankee (5 AB, 1 H)

Career Stats from Baseball Reference

While In The Bigs:

• Played with the Blue Jays, Mariners, Yankees & Red Sox

• 2X World Series Champion

• 2X All-Star

• 3X Gold Glove

• Won 1993 Batting Title (.363/.473/.599, OPS+ 186)

• walked more than he struck out for his career (14.1 BB%, 10.4 K%)

• a career sub-5 SwStr% (4.5%) with career .377 wOBA & career wRC+ of 130

Notable Awards:

• WSU Athletics Hall of Fame (2001)

• National College Baseball Hall of Fame (2007)

• Washington Sports Hall of Fame (2011)

• Pac-12 Player of the Century (2016)

• 🍁Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (2020)

• The __________ Two-Way Player of the Year Award is awarded annually by the College Baseball Foundation (2023 Winner - Caden Grice, Clemson)

How’s It Going Eh to our latest Inductee In An Instant…..JOHN OLERUD

from ESPN

from SPORTSNET

Thank you for checking in today and I’ll be talking with you all again in a while. Until then, as always…Keep It 80 Grade.

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Sources & Resources:

https://baseballhalloffame.ca/hall-of-famer/john-olerud/

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/olerujo01.shtml

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/john-olerud/1093/stats?position=1B

https://wsucougars.com/honors/hall-of-fame/john-g-olerud/109

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Olerud