Brett Olson has a couple distinctions on the Auburn baseball team. He’s one of only two seniors. His 1.000 batting average technically leads the team. And he’s the only player on the Tigers roster with a true familiarity with Omaha.
Olson is of baseball and Auburn royalty, too. His father Gregg Olson was a former first-round MLB Draft pick out of AU, and went on to record 217 saves over 14 MLB seasons. Gregg’s family is from Omaha, and Brett has spent a ton of time here in the mecca of college baseball.
“In your wildest dreams, that’s what you want,” Brett said. “But it takes a lot to get here, but it’s definitely — it seems surreal."
Olson is not the baseball player his father was. He’s a redshirt senior on this Auburn club, a walk-on, who has had just one at-bat this season. He did record a hit then, and has a walk on his ledger, too. He spent two years at Central Alabama Community College before coming to the Tigers.
But he did see the field in Omaha on Thursday night, when he was Auburn’s representative to throw out the first pitch before the Kansas City Royal vs. Detroit Tigers game that was played at TD Ameritrade Park.
“That was special," Olson said. "That was something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Just being able to represent Auburn University, and go out there and throw that pitch. You know, Coach Thompson, I love him, he asked me to do that. And that was something special when he asked me.”
Olson said he’s attended this tournament only one time, in high school, the final year that the championship was played at Rosenblatt Stadium, which has sine been replaced.
Auburn actually has another player, Rankin Woley, that was here for this tournament two years ago as a member of LSU. Outside of those guys, Butch Thompson and pitching coach Steve Smith, the concept of Omaha was only a goal before making it this week.
Gregg Olson was an Auburn great, and before that, he pitched at Omaha Northwest High School. His parents, and Brett’s cousins are all from the area. Whether or not he actually sees the field in a game during this tournament, it’s a fitting place for him to close out his baseball career.
“They love coming back, they’re excited to be here,” Olson said. “We come here at least once a year, we try to, to visit family. He never got to do it while he was playing at Auburn, so for getting me being able to do that, he’s pumped for me and they’re all excited for me.”