| 12 December 2011
Though they aren't really household names here in Northern California (not like Jimmy Rollins or Troy Tulowitzki, etc), there are other players from the region who are in the "hot stove" news these days. Lots of this stuff can be found at MLBTradeRumors.com. That is where I tend to find things like my subjects today. However, there are even times when I scroll at MLBTR and I still miss some names of players from the region. The notes for today pertain to former Cal Poly lefthander Garrett Olson and former Vacaville HS and Chico State (he then transferred to Long Beach State) righthander Drew Carpenter.
Olson was signed to a minor league contract by the Mets and Carpenter was outrighted by the Blue Jays, meaning that he was taken off their 40-man roster. Of note to Giants fans in that link to the Carpenter note is that Travis Ishikawa was signed by the Brewers, to a minor league deal.
Carpenter has pitched in 17 big league games, mostly for the Phillies. He was in six games for the Padres in 2011. I believe his to the Phillies was Vacaville HS to Chico State to Sacramento City College to Long Beach State to a 2nd round selection of the Phillies in 2006.
Olson graduated from Buchanan HS in Fresno and went on to a great career at Cal Poly. He was taken by the Orioles as a supplemental 1st round pick in 2005 and moved through their system pretty quickly, making his big league debut on 7/4/07. He has pitched in the big leagues for the Orioles, Mariners, and Pirates.
Olson is a player I will tend to always have interest in as he was part of one of my first assignments on a We're There feature for TeamOneBaseball.com back in 2005, when Cal Poly opened up at the University of San Diego. I recall that it was a weekend when there was nothing else happening in the baseball world and seemingly every scout, crosschecker, and scouting director was at Cunningham Stadium in late January. Cal Poly and USD both had good teams that year and both had quite a few pro prospects.
