{"id":1957,"date":"2024-09-16T23:52:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T23:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/?post_type=inductee&p=1957"},"modified":"2024-11-20T02:15:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T02:15:24","slug":"michael-olt","status":"publish","type":"inductee","link":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/inductee\/michael-olt\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Olt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Olt<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Mike Olt\u2019s baseball odyssey took him from the ball fields of Branford, to every level of baseball, amateur and professional, throughout the country, eventually reaching the major leagues in 2012.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Olt (2007 BHS Graduate) had a distinguished career during high school, starting at shortstop for four years.\u00a0 Olt led\u00a0 the Hornets to a 2006 State Class L Championship under coach George Dummar (2017 Inductee).\u00a0 Olt earned three All- State selections as well as two New Haven Register All-Area picks.\u00a0 Individually, Olt etched his name into the BHS record books with a school record 115 hits and a career .475 batting average.\u00a0 During the summers Olt would help lead the Post 83 Legion team to the 2005 and 2007 American Legion State and Regional titles and two Legion World Series appearances.\u00a0 Olt was named MVP of the 2007 Connecticut, Northeast Regional tournament and was selected to the World Series All-Tournament Team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Olt followed his brother Brad\u2019s footsteps to play for the University of Connecticut, where he continued his success. He was selected first team All-Big East in 2010 and second team Louisville Slugger All-American.\u00a0 He hit .318 for his UConn career with a school record 44 home runs.\u00a0 Olt led the Huskies into the 2010 NCAA tournament.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Olt gathered a great deal of\u00a0 attention from the major league scouts, and he was selected in the first round (49th overall) by the Texas Rangers.\u00a0 He began his pro career with Spokane in the Northwest League and was named to the All-Star team.\u00a0 He progressed through the Rangers organization, continuing to earn All-Star status in the Carolina League, Arizona Fall League, and the Texas League.\u00a0 By 2011, Olt was recognized as a top 30 prospect by Major League Baseball (MLB).\u00a0 In 2012 he led the Texas League with 28 home runs.\u00a0 By August, Olt was rewarded with a call up to the big league club.\u00a0 He made his MLB debut on August 2, 2012 and singled in his first at bat against the Los Angeles Angels.\u00a0 At Texas he competed with future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre at third base.\u00a0 He started working out at first base and the outfield, to increase his value and utility.\u00a0 In 2013 Mike was traded to the Chicago Cubs and earned a place on the major league roster in 2014.\u00a0 In part time duty, he hit 12 home runs for the Cubs that season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Olt was the starting third baseman on Opening Day for the Cubs in 2015.\u00a0 Early into the season he was hit by\u00a0 pitch fracturing his wrist and would be sidelined.\u00a0 With the competition keen for the third base position with the Cubs, Olt was acquired by the crosstown White Sox where he completed a first in MLB history as the only player to homer for both the Cubs and White Sox in the same season. \u00a0After his release by the White Sox in the spring of 2016, Olt would continue his journey and signed with the Padres organization.\u00a0\u00a0 By 2017 the Red Sox picked him up, playing for Portland Sea Dogs (Eastern League AA) and Pawtucket Red Sox (International League AAA).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Throughout his career, Olt dealt with injuries that impeded his progress, but he persevered.\u00a0 By the fall of 2019 he announced his retirement from baseball.\u00a0 Olt would join fellow 1989 BSHOF Inductee Frank McGowan as the only Branford natives to reach the majors.\u00a0 Mike lives in Greenwich with his wife Lacey.\u00a0 He continues to work in the world of baseball as National Sales Director for Pelotero, a data driven personal player development app.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1976,"template":"","class_list":["post-1957","inductee","type-inductee","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee\/1957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductee"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductee"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/branfordsportshalloffame.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}