JUPITER, Fla. (AP) -Success came quickly for Scott Olsen. He was a sixth-round draft choice at age 18, a major leaguer at 21 and a 12-game winner for the Florida Marlins at 22.
Failure came fast, too. Last year, when Olsen turned 23, he was perhaps the worst starting pitcher in the National League.
He also deserved an F grade in comportment. He was arrested on a DUI charge, drew a fine for making an obscene gesture toward fans, and served a two-game suspension following a confrontation with a teammate.
In short, the young lefty was a little wild.
“Overall it was not a good year,” Olsen says.
But 6-foot-5 left-handers with a 94-mph fastball are tough to find, and the Marlins are giving Olsen another chance. Shoulder tendinitis has kept him out of spring training games the past two weeks, but he’s scheduled to pitch Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Marlins hope he can blossom into the staff ace this season.
Olsen’s agent, manager and teammates say he’s more mature. He agrees.
“Obviously you get older and go through more situations, and you learn from the situations you’re in,” he says. “So you would have to be pretty much of a fool if you didn’t mature as you got older.”
A little growth might make a big difference for Olsen, whose inconsistent pitching and excitable nature have made for a combustible combination. Too often his quick temper would allow a couple of walks to mushroom into a meltdown on the mound.
“He has been his own worst enemy,” says his agent, Matt Sosnick. “He’s the first guy to get in his own head when stuff goes wrong.
“But I think he’ll have a good year. He’s more mature. Being able to accept responsibility for some of the stuff that has gone on in the past is a big step forward. And he knows he doesn’t have an unlimited number of chances.”
Olsen went 12-10 as a rookie in 2006, but he also scuffled with teammates at least twice, coming away from one encounter with a black eye. He also had a dugout confrontation with then-manager Joe Girardi.
Last year’s low point came at 4 a.m. one morning in July, when Olsen was arrested after allegedly refusing to pull his car over and getting into a fight with police. He enrolled in a pretrial diversion program that included therapy, which led to the dismissal of charges.
“I’m happy that everything is over and I can move on,” Olsen says.
A clean slate could make all the difference this season.
“Scott is so emotionally driven, I don’t think it would have been possible for him to have a good year if this hadn’t been taken care of,” Sosnick says.
With the departure of Dontrelle Willis, and with two other starters recovering from surgery, the Marlins need for Olsen to regain his rookie form. He had 166 strikeouts and a 4.04 ERA in 2006.
Last year his ERA soared to 5.81, the highest of any pitcher in the National League with at least 162 innings. He went 10-15 while giving up 226 hits, including 29 homers.
In the second half of the season, he was 4-8 with an ERA of 6.63. What did he learn about pitching?
“It’s very, very hard, and the hitters are very good, and they adjust to you very fast,” he says. “Whatever little success I had in 2006, the hitters are good enough where they figured it out really quick. Then it went kind of backward for me. I figured out the adjustments that have to be made over a six-month season.”
This year, Olsen says he wants to command his fastball better and keep it down. He wants to throw his slider for strike one, and he wants to throw his changeup more.
In an organization with a history of grooming young pitchers, the consensus is Olsen has the stuff to win.
“The sky is the limit,” catcher Matt Treanor says. “He’s big. He has good command. He watches the games. He pays attention. He asks questions.
“When he’s on the mound, it gets misunderstood because he’s so competitive. Sometimes your body language puts off a vibe that you’re moping, but in reality it’s him being competitive and wanting to do everything right.”
Marlins president David Samson caused a stirred last year when he said the team should part with Olsen if he was convicted of charges stemming from the DUI arrest. But otherwise, Sosnick says, the organization has been supportive.
As manager Fredi Gonzalez notes, Olsen is still only 24.
“It’s hard when you’re growing up in the spotlight and making mistakes and it’s all over the country,” Gonzalez says. “He’s maturing. Everything he has done this spring has been totally different from last year, just the way he has been going about things. He has been getting after it. His carrot is being the No. 1 guy, and he’s going about it the right way, businesslike and focused.”
Olsen says he’s confident he can become a staff ace. He considers the quintessential No. 1 pitcher to be former teammate Josh Beckett.
“Anytime you give Josh the ball, you have a legitimate shot of winning, no matter what, whether he has great stuff, good stuff or bad stuff,” Olsen says.
That requires maturity, something Olsen is still striving to add to his repertoire.
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