Edward Olivares

Edward Daniel Olivares

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 186 lb.

• Debut July 25, 2020

• Born March 6, 1996 in Caracas, Distrito Federal Venezuela

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Edward Olivares was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2014 season as an 18-year-old out of Venezuela. After hitting .314 in 40 games for the DSL Blue Jays in 2014, he moved to the United States in 2015 with the GCL Blue Jays. There he hit just .198 in 38 games. He followed that by playing just 15 games in 2016, for the Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League, where he improved to .273. After that slow beginning to his career, he jumped to 120 games in 2017, 101 with the Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League and 19 with the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League. He combined for a batting line of .269/.327/.468, with 27 doubles, 10 triples and 17 homers, scoring 93 runs and driving in 72. He also stole 20 bases.

Having established himself as a legitimate prospect, he was then traded to the San Diego Padres on January 6, 2018 along with P Jared Carkuff in return for IF Yangervis Solarte. He made the Padres' opening day roster in 2020, but hit just .176 in 13 games to be sent down to the team's alternate training site. On August 29th, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals along with a player to be named later (Dylan Coleman) in return for P Trevor Rosenthal. He was still considered a top prospect, but the Padres were in a "win now" mode and the outfield was an area where they were stacked and could afford to lose a talented player in order to patch a leaky bullpen. He played 18 games for the Royals, batting .274 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs. In 2021, he spent the bulk of the season in AAA with the Omaha Storm Chasers, now that the minor leagues were back in business, and hit .313 with 15 homers and 36 RBIs in 67 games. In 39 games with KC, he batted .238 with 5 homers and 12 RBIs.

He seemed ready to become a starter for the first time in 2022 but he was slowed down by a right quad strain which kept him out of action for a month starting on May 9th. It was unfortunate as he had started the season hitting well, with a .371 average after 15 games. He then went back to Omaha for a rehabilitation assignment, and on his return to the big leagues on June 24th, had the first multi-homer game of his career, leading the Royals to a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics. He missed two more months from mid-July to mid-September with a bad quad strain. He finished the season hitting .286 in 53 games, with 4 homers and 15 RBIs. His OPS+ of 110 gave the Royals some hope that he could be a productive player - if he managed to stay on the field for a whole season.

He was healthy at the start of 2023 and starting regularly in left field, although he was not hitting very much. Still, on May 28th, he delivered one of the few highlights of the team's first two months when he hit a tape-measure homer that smashed into the scoreboard at Kauffman Stadium, breaking a bank of lights and leaving smoke pouring out in its wake. The 452-foot blast tied the score at 2-2 against the Washington Nationals in the 8th inning, and K.C. managed to win the game, 3-2, with a run in the 9th.

Related Sites

• Edward Olivares on mlb.com
• BR Minors page