Edward Olivares takes off from the batter's box. All Photos: Jay Blue

By: Jay Blue

Blue Jays From Away

Here’s a name that will send followers of this blog back in time: Brad Glenn. That was the last Lansing Lugnut to hit for the cycle and it came on July 26, 2010. Until last night when 21-year-old Edward Olivares, one of our eight players to watch this season, repeated the rare feat.

Glenn, whose career peaked in 2014 with six games in the major leagues, went 4/4 with a walk that day, driving in three runs and scoring three times as the Lugnuts beat the Clinton LumberKings 9-5.

Olivares is currently in his fourth year in the Blue Jays’ system, starting in the Dominican Summer League in 2014 where he hit .314/.436/.414 in 40 games. He moved up to the GCL in 2015 and struggled a bit more, hitting .198/.345/.362 in 38 games but was starting to show his power with eight doubles, a triple and three home runs.

He only got into 15 games in 2016, playing with Bluefield, hitting .273/.339/.428 and has been a bit slow to adjust to the higher level in Lansing this year. Coming into the game yesterday, he was hitting .172/.209/.344 but after just one game, that jumped to .217/.250/.464 and he now has three doubles, a triple and four home runs.

This time around, Edward Olivares, a 6-foot-2 outfielder from Caracas, Venezuela accomplished the task with a flourish, using his great speed and burgeoning power. Olivares also got two of his hits against the #3-ranked Cubs prospect, Dylan Cease, who was also the #71 overall prospect, according to MLB.com.

Olivares came to the plate with a plan of going the other way into right field, but pulled the ball on an 0-2 count with a double. The next inning, Olivares was again down 0-2 and he got a grounder through the right side for his single.

He went to work on the Cubs’ bullpen, driving a home run in the fifth inning against Pedro Silverio and flied out to right in his fourth at bat. Finally, he got a matchup against a left-handed pitcher in the eighth inning. He worked his way into a hitter’s count (2-0) and hit the third pitch to right-center for a triple to complete the cycle.

The Lansing Lugnuts are powering their way to a 10-8 record so far this year but the pitching has been as good as the hitting, which leads the Midwest League in runs scored and has scored 11 runs or more in three consecutive games.

Edward Olivares hits for the cycle in Lansing