Detroit Tigers Top 20 Prospects: No 12. Reese Olson

We continue our rankings with Reese Olson; ranked our 12th-best Detroit Tigers prospect

The staff at Motor City Bengals put together their own Detroit Tigers prospect ranking independent of one another. Co-site experts Rogelio Castillo and Chris Brown aggregated that info and used the averages to come up with the site’s Top 20.

Next on our countdown is Reese Olson who was acquired midseason last year by the Tigers and experienced success thus far in the Tigers minor league system.

Reese Olson’s Background:

Reese Olson is a 6’1, 160 pound starting pitcher who was selected in the 13th round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Milwaukee Brewers out of North Hall High School in Gainsville, Georgia. He logged a total of 173.3 innings from 2018-2021 in the Milwaukee Brewers organization posting a 9-13 record with a 4.89 ERA spanning from rookie ball to high A ball. Olson was traded on the 2021 MLB trade deadline to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for left-hander Daniel Norris. Upon arriving in Detroit, Olson immediately impressed as he posted a 3-1 record with a 4.74 ERA and a 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings rate over 35.2 innings of work at both High-A West Michigan and Double-A Erie.

Reese Olson’s Strengths:

As showcased by his success albeit with a very small sample size in the Tigers organization, Olson has many strengths that should make Tigers fans extremely excited. According to the 2021 MILB DIGS spreadsheet, Olson ranks in the top quarter of minor league pitchers in ground ball percentage, home run/fly ball rate, and line drive percentage which showcases his ability to induce weak contact. In addition, he has the ability to minimize damage when he is out on the mound as illustrated by his high percentile grade on MILB DIGS, which proves that he is capable of consistently pitching to weak contact and getting outs on a consistent basis. Furthermore, Olson has the ability to get outs with his fastball, changeup, and slider which will allow him to hopefully experience success as he progresses through the minor league system.

Reese Olson’s Weaknesses:

A glaring weakness that Olson will need to improve upon in order to have success at the big league level is his alarming walk rate. In his 24.2 innings at Double-A Erie, he posted a 5.1 walks per nine innings rate which is extremely high and will definitely need to be fixed. In addition, he has a very low swing and miss rate as illustrated by MILB DIGS, along with a low percentile rate in regards to how good his stuff is. This shows that although he may be having success with his stuff at the Double-A level, there is cause for concern about how his stuff will play at the big league level.

Our Take on Reese Olson:

It will be interesting to see where the Tigers send Olson to start the 2022 season whether it be in Double-A Erie or Triple-A Toledo. If I had to hazard a guess he will start in Double-A Erie due to his lack of innings at this level and due to the fact that he is only 22 years old. I believe it will be extremely unlikely that Olson will contribute at the big-league level this season barring any unforeseen circumstances. However, Tigers fans should nonetheless keep an eye on his progress this year, and hopefully improve on some of his weaknesses to prove he can contribute in the Major Leagues.