Angels Prospect’s Interest In Pitching Was A Family Affair

The Los Angeles Angels have a pitching prospect who’s standing out, and not just because he stands 6’11”. Peyton Olejnik is currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League, and of course his size is the first thing that gets attention. 

But Olejnik says his interest in pitching happened early, as in eighth-grade early. According to a writeup from Jesse Borek of MLB.com, a lot of his interest was based on his father, Tom, who pitched at Michigan State back in the 1990s before his career was cut short by Tommy John surgery. 

Tom Olejnik also checks in at 6’9”, so it wasn’t exactly surprising that his son would shoot up at some point. Peyton entered high school as a six-footer, but by his junior year he was 6’4”, and when he graduated from high school he was up to 6’7”. 

Now he stands 7’ in cleats, per Borek, who added that Olejnik’s growth has matched the strikes he’s made as a pitcher so far. 

They didn’t happen right away. Olejnik was ligthtly recruited out of Hanover Central High School in Cedar Lake, Ind., the writer added, and he started his college career at Triton College in Illinois. He spent a year there, then made the leap to Oklahoma, where the pitchers said he “got his teeth kicked in a little bit.” 

That led him back to Miami (Ohio), where he was able to rack up innings and strike out 84 hitters in 64-1/3 innings. But it wasn’t until Olejnik’s second turn through the MLB Draft League that things started to work of him, and a lot of that was about meeting Ron Mahay, who was both a pitcher and a hitter in the big leagues. 

Mahay provided the appropriate guidance, and the Angels took Olejnik in the sixth round of the 2024 draft. He’s since advanced to High-A Tri-City, and the Halos sent him to the AFL to get him ready for High-A and add a cutter to his mix. It's going to be all about command for Olejnik, especially since he's too early in his process to have a defined role just yet. 

Repeating his delivery remains a work in progress, which is tyical of all pitchers, but especially those with Olenjik’s unique verticality. He’ll be closely watched by whoever the Angels’ new ownership group hires at GM and as manager, and his growth as a pitcher should be interesting to watch.