Lakewood Ranch grad makes MLB debut after eight years in minors

Twenty minutes into his first road trip as a professional baseball player, catcher Mike Ohlman and his Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds teammates blew a tire.

It was April 2010. The Shorebirds, a Baltimore Orioles affiliate, were on their way to Greenville, S.C., for a season-opening series against the Drive, a Boston Red Sox affiliate.

 It was not the ideal start to Ohlman’s career. He was drafted in the 11th round of the 2009 MLB draft out of Lakewood Ranch High School.

“You hear stories about stuff like that happening,” Ohlman said. “I was just along for the ride.”

Ohlman can laugh about it today. His journey has taken him from the Orioles organization to the St. Louis Cardinals to the Toronto Blue Jays. On May 8, the manager of Toronto’s AAA Buffalo Bisons, Bobby Meacham, pulled Ohlman into his office before a road series against Syracuse. Ohlman wouldn’t be going with the team.

Instead, almost eight years after his draft day, Ohlman was called to the majors.

He was hopeful that day would eventually come, Ohlman said, and he knew there was a chance. Toronto had seen starting catcher Russell Martin land on the 10-day disabled with an inflamed shoulder, and the week prior had released backup Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Still, the moment was surreal.

Stepping onto Rogers Centre’s field in Toronto for the first time was even more so.

“It was incredible,” Ohlman said. “It was more than I even imagined. Walking in, it was like having your baseball life flash before your eyes.”

Ohlman’s parents, Michael and Tracy Ohlman, were in attendance for their son’s first big-league game May 9 against the Cleveland Indians, as were his fiancee, Lauren Raab, and Dwayne Strong, the former Manatee High coach whom Ohlman called his baseball mentor. He also had “quite a few” calls and text messages from friends and family waiting for him after the game.

Ohlman said the experience of playing at that level was different, but not overwhelming. It’s the same basic game. The main difference was that performance is everything, he said. Projection of future skills does not matter, results do.

To that end, Ohlman needed to produce. He didn’t get a hit in that first game, and had to wait a few games for another opportunity. On May 15 against the Atlanta Braves, Ohlman delivered not just his first hit, but his first RBI, off Cy Young award winner and 20-year veteran pitcher Bartolo Colon.

“In the heat of competition, my job was to get a run across,” Ohlman said.

Ohlman stayed with Toronto through May 20. In five games with the club, he went 2-for-9 at the plate with the single RBI. When Martin returned from the disabled list, Ohlman was designated for assignment, and is now back with Triple A Buffalo.

Getting sent down was disappointing, he said, but it’s also how the business works. Ohlman knows he has to keep playing well for the Bisons to catch the eye of Toronto again, and hopefully when he does, he’ll stick, he said.

The setback isn’t the worst he’s had in his career. Blown tire aside, Ohlman’s battled adversity off the field. In 2012, he was driving westbound on Clark Road in Sarasota when a woman in a convertible tried to race in front of him, he said. He slammed on the breaks to try to stop, but there was nothing he could do.

“I closed my eyes,” Ohlman said. “I knew I hit her when I heard the noise. I looked and saw the asphalt coming toward the windshield.”

Ohlman’s truck had flipped. He walked away with an injured shoulder that eventually kept him sidelined for four months, but he knows it could have been worse. He started rehabbing as soon as he could, and hoped he would be the same type of player he was pre-accident.

He was suspended for 50 games in 2012 when he tested positive for a “drug of abuse,” MLB’s designation for recreational drugs.

Ohlman wants to leave both the accident and the suspension in the past, and his play has helped in that effort. Showing no lingering effects from the injury, Ohlman has hit for a combined .233 average throughout his minor league career, and has excelled defensively. He has yet to make an error this season behind the plate at Buffalo.

Ohlman hopes his coaches and friends in Lakewood Ranch who helped him on his journey know how thankful he is.

“Everyone had a small piece in getting me to where I am,” Ohlman said. “I appreciate everybody for that. It was years in the making. Not quite how I pictured it when I was drafted, but I made it. That’s what counts.”