Archive for the ‘John Olerud’ Category

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

Mark Simon wrote an interesting article for ESPN on Friday. It works really well as a piece on how awesome John Olerud was in his three seasons with the Mets, but I’m not sure about the Ike Davis comparison. Simon notes that Davis’ father Ron says that Olerud is the baseball player he most wants his son to resemble, which is great. However, acting like Davis actually does resemble Olerud is getting ahead of ourselves.

That’s not to say there isn’t some hope for the future. Defensively, Davis is already emulating Olerud with a 7.4 UZR and good picking skills that help fellow infielders throw with confidence. At the plate, things are a little more complicated. In Olerud’s 1990 rookie season, he hit .265/.364/.430 which isn’t too much better than Davis’ .247/.330/.417 as of yesterday. What really makes Olrerud’s season more impressive, though, is that he did it at age 21. Davis is already 23 years old in his rookie year. When Olerud was 23 he hit .284/.375/.450.

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John Olerud was an excellent player for the Mets for three seasons.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

When I think of consistent hitters, one of the first players that comes into my mind from a Mets persective is former first basemen John Olerud. Olerud, famous for wearing a helmet in the field for medical reasons, was one of the most patient hitters that we have seen in recent memory for this club. His on base percentage clearly reflects that he was a valuable number three hitter.

Olerud was with the Mets for three seasons from 1997-99. In 1998, Olerud had an MVP-caliber season, batting a resounding .354 with 22 homers and 93 RBI. The most eye-popping stat of them all for Olerud was hit .447 on base percentage that year. He was getting on base almost every time up, and that boded well for the big boy hitting behind him.

Believe it or not, Olerud’s .354 batting average was not the best one he has put up in the mahor leagues. In 1993 with Toronto, Olerud batted .363 with 24 homers and 107 RBI. He also had 200 hits, 54 of which were doubles. That is an MVP-caliber season if I have ever seen one.

Olerud led by example. His patience was truly something to admire. He didn’t strike out much, and he was a great defensive player. He was one of the more underrated players that played in that era.

The one drawback that came with Olerud was his speed, or lack thereof. He ran about as slow as Mo Vaughn, and it took him about a half hour to get from home to first. Well…not really. But, you get my point.

Overall, Olerud was an excellent player, and I was upset to see him go after 1999 to Seattle. He was valuable, and he was a big reason why Mike Piazza drove in so many runs.