SoftBank to Work Out Two
According to Sanspo, SoftBank will be working out American pitchers JD Durbin and Michael Olmsted after the Hawks’ game against Rakuten on April 18th. SoftBank had looked for pitching reinforcements after failing to retain the services of Justin Germano, but didn’t make add any arms over the off season.
Durbin has 72.2 MLB innings under his belt, and was last seen in the Show in 2007. Olmsted played in the Mets’ low minors in 2007 and 2008, which would make him an ikusei-level prospect.
10/04/2010 at 1:40 am Permalink
Olmstead has no pitching record in 2009, is only 23 years old, and wants to pitch in Japan. Do you happen to know the story behind this?
10/04/2010 at 7:52 am Permalink
Nope. This Sanspo article was the first time I’ve heard of him. I thought he might have played Indy ball in 2009 but my brief Googling didn’t turn anything up.
10/04/2010 at 8:18 am Permalink
I thought I found something, but it was an old article.
http://scoutingthesally.com/2009/05/game-report-michael-olmsted-sp-new-york-mets/
An easy guess would be that he suffered a serious injury, which would really go nowhere in Japan either. The scouting report tells me that even at the level he is/was, he doesn’t sound promising (already injured, maybe).
By the way, any relation to Mike Newman at Scouting the Sally?
10/04/2010 at 9:07 am Permalink
It would certainly be unusual for a Japanese team to import a foreign pitcher to rehab, especially one who hasn’t pitched about 1a ball. There’s a mention of a “Michael Olmstead” on this page: http://www.goldenbaseball.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=849. Who knows if it’s the same guy.
No relation to Mike Newman.
10/04/2010 at 10:57 pm Permalink
I remember JD Durbin. He pitched for the Phillies. I especially remember his shutout against Jake Peavy and the Padres at Petco Park back a few years ago. Good luck JD. (:
12/04/2010 at 12:43 pm Permalink
From my sources, Olmstead had some character issues during his time with the Mets and was dismissed. It’s interesting to see him resurfacing in Japan.
12/04/2010 at 3:58 pm Permalink
Thanks for the tip Mike. I hope Olmsted has gotten over his issues, because Japanese teams are unlikely to have much patience with a foreign guy with character problems.
18/04/2010 at 7:25 am Permalink
If you contacted Mike, thank you, Patrick. Here is a small article about the tryout.
http://www.nikkansports.com/ajaxlib/root/baseball/news/f-bb-tp0-20100418-619770.html
Be sure to click the image.