Olson Not Letting Fast Start Go to His Head

Rookie Gregg Olson had three victories and two saves in his first 11 appearances this year. But he still dwells on the negative.

“I wish the good ones stayed with me as long as the bad ones do,” Olson said. “I remember the bad ones a lot longer. I don’t think that’s all bad. I evaluate what I did wrong and I get something out of it. . . . The Seattle outing, the Minnesota outing, I wish I could put them away.”

This is how Olson looks at his fast start. He is quick to bring up his first appearance against Minnesota on April 7, when he gave up three runs on five hits, and his outing on April 28 in Seattle when he allowed two runs in one-third of an inning.

Among his other first nine outings, in which he has pitched 17 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs (for a 1.02 ERA), are shrugged off.

“It could be a fluke,” he said with a laugh. “ . . . I’m still looking over my shoulder.”

Olson, a right-hander who was pitching at Auburn University at this time last year, said he has always been this hard on himself.

“I may not (succeed) my next time out. . . . I could hurt my arm. Who knows?” Olson said. “It’s happened before to other guys . . . “

The 22-year-old native of Omaha, Neb., knows his viewpoint is slightly askew, but adds he doesn’t need any more advice on the subject. “Nobody could say anything now that I haven’t heard before,” he said.

The Orioles made Olson their No. 1 draft choice, and the fourth selection overall, last year. When he left the U.S. Olympic team to sign with the Orioles, Olson said he hoped to be in the majors by the end of the 1988 season. He made it, but not without a few struggles along the way.

After eight appearances with the Orioles’ Class A affiliate in Hagerstown, Md., Olson was promoted to the Class AA level, where he posted an 0-1 record with a 5.84 ERA with one save.

“I really struggled at Double-A,” Olson said. “I tried to do the things that were successful for me in A-ball and in college, just throw it as hard as I can, and it didn’t work. . . . I thought at times that I ha, and it didn’t work. . . . I thought at times that I had reached my level.”

Nonetheless, the Orioles brought Olson up last September and he went 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA in 10 appearances.

In spring training prior to this season, Olson became the subject of much debate. Did he need more seasoning? Should he be a starter or reliever? The swirling questions were hard on the young pitcher.

“I struggled a lot with it in spring training,” Olson said. “I’d look around and say, ‘Those five guys are going to make it. It’s down to the three of us.’ Then somebody else would have a good outing. Everytime I had a bad outing I thought it was going to be held against me. . . . I thought it (making the Orioles) would come down to politics and I couldn’t control that.

” . . . Then there was talk about me starting. There were already seven starters there, so where did that leave me? . . . I didn’t want to go back (to the minors). I’d much rather lose here than down there.”

Olson hasn’t done any losing so far. He has shown off a highly touted curveball that has buckled the knees of hitters like Minnesota’s Gary Gaetti and Oakland’s Mark McGwire.

Although confident that he can get those kind of hitters out, Olson still has not allowed himself to expect it.

FO Baltimore reliever Gregg Olson, 22, who made it to the major leagues in less than a season, is off to fast start in 1989. Here, he is congratulated by Manager Frank Robinson after a win.