Where are they now?

Jared Oliva.

23-year-old Jared Oliva grew up in Saugus, California and played for the Woodchucks in 2015 and 2016. He had an exceptional debut with the Woodchucks in 2015 going 5-for-5 with a grand slam and two doubles. Oliva came back in 2016 to play for the Chucks and batted .272 in 30 games. He had five doubles, two triples, two home runs, 14 RBIs and five stolen bases.  

Jared went from being a redshirt at the University of Arizona in 2014 to starting 38 games for Arizona while pinch hitting five more in 2015. He batted .272 in over 136 at-bats with 22 runs scored, 20 RBIs, nine doubles, two triples and one home run. In 2016, Jared continued to show his commitment to baseball and played in 71 games with 58 starts, seven triples, four home runs, four doubles, 36 RBIs, and a team-high 13 stolen bases. He then went 7 for 26 in the College World Series, starting all eight games in centerfield. Oliva made 135 putouts and had one outfield assist without committing a single error on the season.

Jared was drafted in the 7th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017. He finished his season with a 2.66 batting average and 17 RBIs. Jared continued to work hard towards his goal of making it to the majors and played for Bradenton in 2018. His hard work paid off and he had a .275 batting average, nine home runs and 47 RBIs.

Currently with Altoona, Oliva has a .284 batting average with 38 multi-hit games, and was named the team MVP. He has 35 stolen bases setting a new career-high for him and is the top outfielder in the Eastern League with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 109 games and 288 total chances.  

In 2015, when playing for the Woodchucks Oliva said “our coach would always give us a picture of a cat looking in the mirror and it sees a lion, like you see yourself bigger than what you really are. I kind of used that as my motivation, and it really helped. It got me through the fall and eventually to where I am today.” We can definitely see that this mentality has lead him to truly play bigger than he ever has before. We couldn’t be more excited to see where his baseball career leads him.