The Washington Nationals today acquired left-handed starting pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham from the Florida Marlins in exchange for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio, minor-league second baseman Jake Smolinski and minor-league right-handed pitcher P.J. Dean. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made the announcement.
The 24 year-old Olsen—who stands 6-foot-5—teams with southpaw John Lannan (3.91 ERA in 31 starts in first full big league campaign) to give the Nationals a pair of left-handed starting pitchers currently 24 years-old or younger. Among pitchers currently under the age of 25, Olsen’s 31 wins rank fifth behind only Scott Kazmir (47), Felix Hernandez (39), Cole Hamels (38) and Chad Billingsley (35).
In the last three seasons (2006-08), Olsen’s 30 wins rank second in baseball among pitchers 24 or younger, as only Kazmir (35) has more. In the same three-season span, Olsen ranks among NL left-handed pitchers in wins (tied for fifth, 30), starts (first, 97), innings (second, 559.0), strikeouts (fourth, 412), quality starts (tied for fifth, 46), ground-ball double plays induced (seventh, 45) and batting average against (eighth, .269) despite being burdened by a big league-leading 45 unearned runs. He has eclipsed the 30-start plateau each of the last three seasons and Olsen’s quality-start percentage of 47.4 percent in that span ranks 11th in baseball among left-handed pitchers (minimum 90 starts).
A two-time double-digit winner (12 wins in 2006, 10 in ‘07), Olsen finished 8-11 with a 4.20 ERA in 33 starts for Florida last season, when he walked a career-low 69 in a career-best 201.2 innings. He was one of just 18 National League pitchers to reach the 200-inning plateau in 2008. Olsen’s average of 15.4 pitches per inning—which was a career-best effort—would have paced the 2008 Nationals by nearly one pitch per inning (Lannan, team-leading 16.2 pitches per inning). For his career, Olsen is 31-37 with a 4.63 ERA in 102 games (101 starts) for Florida from 2005-08. Originally Florida ’s sixth-round selection in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Olsen has never been placed on the Disabled List.
Sporting a career big league on-base percentage of .361, Willingham is known for his power and patience during his three seasons as an everyday player with the Marlins, during which he blasted 62 home runs—one every 22.2 at-bats—and saw 4.03 pitches per plate appearance to rank among the NL’s top 15 in that span. Willingham has never posted a sub-.350 on-base percentage during his nine-year professional career.
After posting consecutive 20-homer seasons (26 in 2006, 21 in ‘07), Willingham hit 15 long balls in 102 games last season, averaging a home run every 23.4 at-bats.
By joining the Nationals, Willingham will play his home games at Nationals Park —where he blasted three long balls in just five games in 2008—as opposed to pitcher-friendly Dolphin Stadium. Willingham is a career .266 (374-for-1422) hitter with 82 doubles, 11 triples, 63 home runs and 219 RBI in 416 big league games. He was drafted by Florida in the 17th round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of North Alabama .
OLSEN CAREER RECORD
YEAR CLUB W L ERA G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WP BK BAA
2002 GCL Marlins 2 3 2.96 13 11 0 0 0 0 51.0 39 18 17 0 5 17 50 5 2 .204
2003 Greensboro 7 9 2.81 25 24 0 0 1 0 128.0 101 51 40 4 7 59 129 7 0 .220
2004 Jupiter 7 6 2.97 25 25 1 1 0 0 136.0 127 57 45 8 4 53 158 7 0 .252
2005 Carolina 6 4 3.92 14 14 1 1 0 0 80.0 75 38 35 7 3 27 94 6 0 .251
Florida 1 1 3.98 5 4 0 0 0 0 20.0 21 13 9 5 0 10 21 1 0 .259
2006 Albuquerque 0 0 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 6.0 5 1 0 0 0 3 5 1 0 .227
Florida 12 10 4.04 31 31 0 0 0 0 180.0 160 94 81 23 7 75 166 8 0 .239
2007 Florida 10 15 5.81 33 33 0 0 0 0 176.0 226 134 114 29 1 85 133 8 0 .315
2008 Florida 8 11 4.20 33 33 0 0 0 0 201.2 195 106 94 30 3 69 113 5 0 .253
MINORS TOTALS 22 22 3.06 78 75 2 2 1 0 403.0 347 165 137 19 19 159 436 26 2 .235
MLB TOTALS 31 37 4.63 102 101 0 0 0 0 579.1 602 347 298 87 11 239 433 22 0 .269
WILLINGHAM CAREER RECORD
YEAR CLUB AVG. G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI SH SF HP BB SO SB CS SLG OBP E
2000 Utica .263 65 205 37 54 88 16 0 6 29 1 2 9 39 55 9 5 .429 .400 2
2001 Kane County .259 97 320 57 83 128 20 2 7 36 0 4 13 53 85 24 2 .400 .382 15
2002 Jupiter .274 107 376 72 103 183 21 4 17 69 0 2 13 63 88 18 5 .487 .394 9
2003 Jupiter .264 59 193 46 51 106 17 1 12 34 0 3 9 46 42 9 2 .549 .422 2
Carolina .299 22 67 15 20 39 2 1 5 14 0 0 3 13 20 0 0 .582 .434 2
GCL Marlins* .429 2 7 3 3 7 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1.000 .500 0
2004 Carolina .281 112 338 81 95 191 24 0 24 76 1 7 18 91 87 6 3 .565 .449 5
Florida .200 12 25 2 5 8 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 4 8 0 0 .320 .310 1
2005 Albuquerque .324 66 219 56 71 148 14 3 19 54 0 4 9 47 54 5 1 .676 .455 5
Florida .304 16 23 3 7 8 1 0 0 4 1 0 2 2 5 0 0 .348 .407 0
Jupiter* .222 2 9 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 .333 .300 0
2006 Florida .277 142 502 62 139 249 28 2 26 74 0 6 11 54 109 2 0 .496 .356 7
Carolina * .250 2 8 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 .250 .250 0
2007 Florida .265 144 521 75 138 241 32 4 21 89 0 1 16 66 122 8 1 .463 .364 3
2008 Florida .254 102 351 54 89 165 21 5 15 51 1 2 14 48 82 3 2 .470 .364 0
Carolina * .231 8 26 6 6 8 2 0 0 5 0 0 2 2 5 0 0 .308 .333 1
MINOR TOTALS .277 542 1768 374 490 903 118 11 91 321 2 22 77 355 443 71 18 .511 .415 39
MLB TOTALS .266 416 1422 196 378 671 82 11 63 219 2 9 43 174 326 13 3 .472 .361 11
* — Rehab assignment
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