Texas Rangers Top 20 Prospects: No. 19
No. 19: Mike Olt
3B - R/R
6-2 - 216 - 8/27/88
Branford, CT
Mike Olt was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round (49th overall) of the 2010 amateur baseball draft out of the University of Connecticut. After signing, he immediately was assigned to the Spokane Indians (Short-Season Class A) where he hit .293 with nine homeruns and 43 RBI's in 69 games.
Olt was named the Rangers' defender of the month for Aug. 2010.
While at UConn, Olt set UConn single-season records for homeruns (23 in 2010) and RBIs (61 in 2008). He is first on the all-time UConn homeruns list with 44. Olt won the 2010 BIG EAST Home Run Derby. He was named a 2008 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball.
Olt is likely to start the 2011 season with the Hickory Crawdads (Class A).
Jamey Newberg's profile on Mike Olt:
Mike Olt, 3B
A month after Christian Villanueva earned the organization's Minor League Defender of the Month honors, Olt was the recipient, and while there are aspects of his game's that differ from Villaneuva's, you'll get a spirited debate if you ask enough people who pay close attention which of the two they like as the top corner infielder in the system. Chosen with a supplemental first-round pick in June (compensation for the loss of free agent Ivan Rodriguez), Olt was advertised as bringing two plus aspects to his game: tremendous raw power (he passed former Rangers farmhand Jason Grabowski as UConn's all-time home run leader) and premium defense at third base. After hitting .318/.401/.659 with a school-record 23 homers in 264 Huskies at-bats in the spring, the 21-year-old hit .293/.390/.464 with nine more bombs in 263 at-bats for Short-Season A Spokane. He was fourth in the Northwest League with 40 walks (and also fourth with 77 strikeouts), and his 122 total bases were fifth most in the circuit. He displayed the plus range and arm at third base, along with good hands and footwork, that had led Baseball America to call him the third-best defensive player - at any position - in the 2010 draft. The publication also named him the NWL's number four prospect after the season. Olt should settle in somewhere in the middle of Low A Hickory's lineup when the 2011 season begins.