The New York Yankees signed right-handed pitcher Jon Olsen to a minor league deal on May 4, per Beisbolpuro.com. He had been pitching for the Piratas de Campeche of the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol.
OLSEN FIRMÓ CON YANQUIS
El lanzador derecho Jon Olsen concluyó su participación con los @LosPiratasMx ya que firmó contrato de ligas menores con @Yankees.
Olsen, de 27 años de edad, marchaba con récord de 2-1 y 3.18 de efectividad en tres aperturas con los Piratas.
El scout… pic.twitter.com/OczeIXREQn
— Beisbolpuro (@Beisbolpuro) May 4, 2025
Olsen, 27, was in an MLB organization once before, with the Minnesota Twins from 2018-22. The Twins drafted him in the 12th round of the 2018 MLB draft, but he never made it higher than High-A affiliate.
Olsen was assigned to the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, on May 8, per a team announcement on X. He didn’t pitch in his first game with the Patriots, but will most likely debut with them at some point this weekend.
The @Yankees have announced the following roster moves:
????Jon Olsen – Signed to Minor League Contract, Assigned to Somerset
????Cole Gabrielson – Placed on Somerset 7-Day Injured List
????Diomedes Hernandez – Reinstated from Development List (Somerset) pic.twitter.com/npDo88SHIy— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) May 8, 2025
With Campeche this season, he’s thrown 17 innings with 18 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.18. In 2024, Olsen played independent baseball in the Atlantic League with the York Revolution. He pitched 127 innings, with 136 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.60 last year, and was rewarded by winning the Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year award.
There have been many roadblocks in his career, with Olsen having undergone Tommy John surgery during his senior year at UCLA, just before he was drafted by the Twins. He then suffered from thoracic outlet syndrome, which required another surgery in 2019. After all of these setbacks and the cancellation of the 2020 season, he didn’t make his professional debut until 2021.
In 2021, he only pitched 16 games for the Cedar Rapids Knolls before undergoing a reconstruction of his ulnar collateral ligament. It was his third surgery in four seasons, and once he returned in 2022, he pitched 13 2/3 innings in the Arizona Fall League with the Glendale Desert Dogs.
He was designated for assignment by the Twins on March 30, 2023, after throwing 98 1/3 innings, 95 strikeouts, and an ERA of 3.94 in the minor leagues.
Olsen will look to follow in the footsteps of fellow Yankees J.C. Escarra and Fernando Cruz as players who carved MLB paths from independent and international baseball.
Photo: AP Photo.
