Travel plans certainly got a lot easier for the Ohlendorf family.
Traveling from their Austin, Texas home to see both Chad, who will be a freshman with the Princeton University baseball team, and Ross, who was in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization play, wouldn't have easily happened on the same weekend. Now, the brothers could end up within an hour, or even a few minutes of each other after Ross was traded to the New York Yankees in a five-player deal that was finalized Tuesday.
"I'm excited to come back to the Princeton area," said Ross Ohlendorf, an Academic All-District selection while playing at Princeton University in 2004. "The Yankees are obviously a great, great organization. I'm excited about the opportunity. I had a great experience with the Diamondbacks. I had great coaches and great friends there. Going to the Yankees, this is, if not the best, one of the best organizations in the history of baseball. I'm excited about the opportunity."
Ohlendorf was dealt along with fellow minor league pitcher Steven Jackson and infielder Alberto Gonzalez and Diamondbacks reliever Luis Vizcaino for Yankee pitcher Randy Johnson. Ohlendorf will report to pitchers and catchers Feb. 13 in Florida.
"I don't think they really know for sure where I'll be," Ohlendorf said. "I know with the Diamondbacks, I was expecting to most likely start in Triple A. I don't know the Yankees organization well in terms of what pitchers they have. I'm hoping to move up from Double A. If not, I'll have opportunity to pitch and move up."
Either way, the power-pitching right-hander figures to be in close proximity with his younger brother, who will likely pitch for the Tigers this spring, according to PU head coach Scott Bradley. The Trenton Thunder remain the Yankees' Double A club, while Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is their Triple-A affiliate.
Ohlendorf was 10-8 with a 3.29 earned run average for the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League last summer. In 177 innings, he struck out 125 and walked just 29. He had four complete games. He made one appearance with the Tucson Sidewinders, the Diamondbacks' Triple-A team. The year before, in Single-A South Bend of the Midwest League, he was 11-10 with a 4.53 ERA. In 157 innings, he had 144 strikeouts and 44 walks.
"I felt like I learned a lot," said Ohlendorf, who was a fourth-round selection by the Diamondbacks in 2004. "At the end of my first season, things started to click. I was able to carry it in through the spring season and able to get better and better. That's all I can hope to do, continue to improve. I have things to keep working on. Some things to improve.
"My control is much better. That's the thing that's improved every season. My fastball, understanding the importance of throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count, was something I never understood in college. I understood to some extent, but a lot of times I tried to just throw it by everybody. It made a big jump. My control is better. My change-up has gotten much better. I'm throwing inside more. My offspeed, I can continue to improve. My consistency with my offspeed can continue to improve."
The Yankees see potential in Ohlendorf, and the Diamondbacks thought enough of him to send him to the Major League Rookie Career Development Camp, which was held right outside of Washington, D.C. last weekend. There, players learn about talking to the media, handling their finances, drug policies and the dangers of gambling.
"Each organization gets to invite three players to it who are expected to make their major league debut," Ohlendorf said. "It was Micah Owings, Doug Slaten and me. I went as a Diamondback."
It was while there that the wheels started to spin on the trade that brought Ohlendorf back east.
"One of college roommates called me," Ohlendorf said. "I knew there was a possibility. One of college roommates said there was a report I was in the tentative deal.
"I talked to the Yankees for the first time (Tuesday) and the Diamondbacks (Monday). When I talked to the Diamondbacks, it wasn't official. There was some speculation the last two weeks that I was one of the players that might be involved. I was going to be involved, they said, on Thursday."
Worth Lumry, a former pitcher for the Tigers who played in the Seattle Mariners farm system before suffering a shoulder injury, called Ohlendorf when the first news of the trade broke. Johnson had to pass a physical before the deal was finalized to send Ohlendorf to the Yankees.
"Actually they've been my mom's favorite team since she was growing up," Ohlendorf said. "So I've always liked them. I never had a strong favorite on teams. In baseball growing up, I liked the Astros and Rangers because they were close, and whichever team I was on in Little League."
Now, Ohlendorf hopes to stay on path to the majors. He has been interning in the office of finance for the University of Texas system in the morning hours, then working out in the afternoons to prepare for spring training. He is looking to build on his latest successful summer.
"I was very happy with this year," said the 24-year-old. "My first season was OK. I was happy how it ended. Struggling that first season, having the struggles, really taught me some things. I think that was good to not do quite as well. I was happy I had the jump I had. I'm happy with where I am now. I think I'm a much better pitcher."
Continued improvement will be his ticket to the majors. He would have the chance to make the jump with a storied team, one that his Princeton coach played for. It was one of the reasons that Bradley called to congratulate Ohlendorf.
"He was very excited for me," Ohlendorf said. "He came up in the Yankee system and made his major league debut with Yankees. He told me to play with the Yankees is an incredible experience and in Yankee Stadium. He was excited I have a chance to be a Yankee."
Ohlendorf hopes to follow in the footsteps of another former Tiger, Chris Young, who has been traded twice and burned both teams that dealt him away with solid seasons to follow.
"He's had a great couple seasons," Ohlendorf said. "He's had a great career so far. He's going to continue to do well. Hopefully, now I'll be with the Yankees for a little while."
Ohlendorf's arm strength and ability to eat up innings were two attractive qualities for the Yankees. Those strengths give him the potential to help as a starter, or possibly as a reliever. Proving he can help in either role will help speed him to the majors. He's looking forward to spring training and his debut within a new organization after two solid summers with the Diamondbacks.
"I'm hoping to move up a level," Ohlendorf said. "If not, if I'm in Double-A, I'd be right down the street from my brother."
