Olt Learning 1B On the Fly
AP
When Mike Olt set the Arizona Fall League on fire, he began a quick ascent up the prospects list in the Texas Rangers organization. Olt, who is 23 years young, is kind of a Chris Davis-type player with power and a good glove at third base, which is where Davis started his career.
With Adrian Beltre having dibs on third base for the Rangers for the foreseeable future, Olt is being forced to learn another position if he wants to get to the bigs with the Rangers any time soon. So he's doing what Davis did, trying his hand at first base.
Davis proved to be a potentially Gold Glove-caliber first baseman but he couldn't figure out how to hit a curveball. Olt doesn't seem to have a lot of problems swinging the stick, but he's still trying to get a hang of the first base thing after making his debut at his new position on Sunday in Arizona.
He committed an error on Sunday, saying the position switch has so far been harder than he anticipated.
"The more I play, the easier that will get," Olt told ESPN Dallas. "I had fun, though. I really enjoyed it and I want to get better."
