Career Changes
Olmstead continues playing ball despite early snags

By Brandon Ortiz
Skiff Staff

Walter Olmstead was through with baseball.

Olmstead was a junior in high school. He barely made the junior varsity squad his freshman year, and he hadn’t really played much his sophomore year at MacArthur High School in San Antonio.

His baseball career was going no where.

“I didn’t play much, didn’t have any fun and didn’t think I was ever going to amount to much,” Olmstead said. “I saw no future in baseball, and I figured why continue with it?”

Today Olmstead, a sophomore, is the Frogs’ starting first baseman and is hitting .444 with a .815 slugging percentage. He leads or is tied for first in the Western Athletic Conference in runs, hits, RBIs, doubles and total bases. He is second in batting average and slugging percentage.

But Olmstead’s path from little league to a WAC star was more than unusual.

Sarah Kirschberg/SKIFF STAFF At one point, sophomore first baseman Walter Olmstead questioned his desire to continue playing baseball. Now, he leads or is tied for the top spot in multiple offensive categories in the Western Athletic Conference.

In the beginning

Olmstead started playing baseball when he was 4-years old, when his dad bought him a T-ball set. He has been playing baseball ever since.

Olmstead would spend afternoons with his dad in the back yard playing whiffle ball. Olmstead said his father was his coach until high school and was his biggest baseball influence growing up.

“He is the one who showed me the basics of it,” he said. “If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even have started playing.”

But Olmstead was never a stand-out baseball player as a child.

“I was always good enough to make the team,” he said. “I was never the outstanding one. I was OK compared to the other kids. I was never the worst, but I was never the best one on the team.”

Olmstead entered high school at a height of 5 feet 6 inches. While all of his friends were beginning to grow and mature, Olmstead stayed the same size.

“It was kind of difficult,” he said. “Everybody else was going through their growth spurts in high school, and I was the last one to do it. My friends were taller than me, they were growing facial hair and their voices were all deep.”

His lack of size limited his success in baseball and basketball. Olmstead quit the basketball team his junior year, because he was too short. He was ready to quit baseball too, but his parents convinced him to stick with it.

And that’s when it happened.

Olmstead grew.

“I came back to high school my senior year and I was 6 foot 5 inches, and that is when it came together with baseball,” he said. “Height and size is pretty much what got me here to TCU.”

Olmstead caught assistant coach Donnie Watson’s eye when he was on a trip scouting another player on Olmstead’s team. Watson walked away from the game saying, “Dadgum.”

“He had size, he had some speed and he moved well laterally,” Watson said. “As you began to talk to him, you saw what kind of kid he was. He is a guy who can hit with power from both sides. That is very rare, even in the big leagues.”

Despite his size and athleticism, Olmstead was not heavily recruited by any Division I programs.

“I had gotten a couple of letters, but I really wasn’t the type of player that college coaches were looking for right at that moment,” Olmstead said. “Most Division I schools want a guy that can come in there and turn things around right away.”

But Watson saw things differently. Watson said he didn’t think it would take Olmstead long to develop.

“I didn’t think it would take him two years,” Watson said. “He is growing like a weed. If we could get him in here and on a real weight program, he would be about where he is right now — on the verge of being a superstar.”

But it took a tough freshmen year for the walk-on to get there.

Year one

“I really didn’t pay attention to the academic side of school, and it really affected the athletic side,” Olmstead said. “My performance level dropped a lot on the field. I was really worried about my grades. When last year ended, I pretty much thought I wouldn’t be coming to TCU anymore.”

After breaking into the starting lineup part way into the season, Olmstead finished the year with a .239 batting average and a .358 slugging percentage.

He was struggling in the classroom, and it spilled over into the field.

Watson said Olmstead was on the verge of flunking out.

“He was fixing to be out of here,” Watson said.

The game was faster, the pitchers were better and the work load was rougher.

“In high school, you get by on just talent alone, but in college Division I baseball, there has to be a work ethic there,” Olmstead said. “I was sort of timid. I wasn’t aggressive in anything I did. I was sitting back waiting for others to do everything.”

Red-shirt freshman outfielder Kenny Thompson said Olmstead finished the year frustrated and ready to leave. Thompson, Olmstead’s best friend at TCU, had to convince him to stay.

“Baseball wasn’t going exactly the way he planned it,” Thompson said. “He was on the verge of leaving. He was leaving. He had to re-register. He was going to transfer.

“I was like ‘Dude, you can’t leave me. We’ll work it out.’”

Barry Takahashi, assistant baseball coach, said Olmstead was able to overcome his initial “culture shock.”

“The whole Division I experience, the travel, the work load required for classes — I think that was a shock in the beginning,”

Takahashi said. “I think he saw what was required to play at the Division I level, and I think he realized, ‘Hey I can do that if I tried, if I bust my butt.’”

The turning point

“He really hasn’t changed personality wise, but he knows his priorities,” Thompson said. “He knows what he has to do to be successful in school and on the field. He got his stuff straight.”

Olmstead said things finally clicked with the help of the coaching staff and his best friend Thompson.

A conversation with head coach Lance Brown and Watson triggered the turning point.

“The coaches told me I have the ability to make baseball a career,” Olmstead said. “That right there made me want to go out there and work as hard as I can just to not let them down.”

Olmstead’s first task was to improve in school. With Thompson backing him, Olmstead concentrated on class work and pulled his grades up.

“I really couldn’t let Kenny down,” Olmstead said. “He has been there for me since my first day of school last year.”

Thompson and Olmstead first met in a summer league game in 1999. The two learned they were going to the same school and living in the same residence hall, and they exchanged phone numbers.

The two lived next to each other in the residence hall and got to know each other better. They have been close friends ever since.

“We started going to practice together, and we started walking home together and eating in The Main and stuff,” Olmstead said.
Now, the two are inseparable.

“When we are not playing baseball, we kind of hang out,” Thompson said. “We used to watch wrestling all the time. We will go out with the other guys on the team.”

Olmstead said with Thompson’s help, he changed his priorities and was able to get better in school.

“This year, I came in with the academic goal first, then the athletic goal,” Olmstead said. “I can’t have the athletic side without the academic side.”

With school in order, Olmstead went on an aggressive conditioning program. Instead of spending his summer sitting in the sun, Olmstead spent his sweating in the weight room.

Takahashi said Olmstead’s efforts have paid off.

“This past year, he has made himself a better athlete,” Takahashi said. “He seems to have a really good perspective on things. (He) stays focused. (You) never catch him messing around or screwing around.”

Olmstead also had to improve his diet. With his parents owning an oriental restaurant in San Antonio, Olmstead had never been one to watch what he eats.

“It’s real tough,” Olmstead said. “But when you have a goal and you’re focused, you learn to resist temptations like eating junk food, not working out and not paying attention to your diet, because it can affect your overall playing performance and the energy level through out the day.”

Things start looking up

Things are looking better for Olmstead.

He is tearing up college pitching and his priorities are in order. Scouts are watching.

“We had two scouts stick their head in the dugout and ask, ‘What’s his date of birth?’” Watson said. “They want to know if he is going to be 21 before the June 1 draft. Sorry, they’ll have to wait until next June.

“I am waiting to be his agent if he is going to be that naive about knowing if he could play in college or not. I’ll take my 10-percent cut ... He is going to have to play for a lot of money.”

This summer, Olmstead will play summer baseball in Alaska, one of the premier summer leagues. Watson said Olmstead was shocked to find out.

“I told him he was going (to Alaska) and he said, ‘No I am not,’” Watson said. “He said, ‘Coach, I didn’t even think I would ever start in college.’”

Olmstead recently received a letter from the Cincinnati Reds. Olmstead, who was ignored by colleges and is now being scouted by major league teams, was blown away.

“It’s mind blowing that in a year or two I could be sitting in a draft spot where I could actually go play pro ball,” Olmstead said. “It has been a dream of mine ever since I have picked up a bat. It’s really weird how things have taken their course. About three years ago, I had pretty much given up on baseball and now it is one of the main focuses of my life. I hope it will be in the future.”

Brandon Ortiz
b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu