The Twins handed out seven bonuses of six figures or more during the 2019-20 international signing period, led by Emmanuel Rodriguez’s $2.5 million. They added Olivar when the period opened in July of 2019 for just $20,000, then had to wait until after the pandemic for his official pro debut, which was a rough 34 games in the Florida Complex League. He won FCL MVP honors when he repeated the level in 2022 and had a solid year at the plate with the full-time move up to Single-A in 2023.
After back-to-back solid offensive years, there is some confidence that the right-handed hitter is going to hit as he progresses. He’s improved his overall approach considerably since signing, continuing to make better swing decisions, drawing a lot of walks and limiting his strikeouts, which led to him finishing second in the pitching-friendly Florida State League in on-base percentage and third in OPS. There’s some impact in the swing with solid extra-base pop.
Olivar will continue to work on his catcher/outfielder profile, and the Twins think he’s athletic enough to make it work. His arm won’t wow anyone, but he’s working to improve his receiving and game-calling skills behind the dish and he got most of his outfield reps in left field last year.
At the top of the Twins’ international prospect acquisitions in the 2019-2020 signing period was Emmanuel Rodriguez, now one of the best prospects in the system, who got $2.5 million to sign. Near the bottom in terms of bonus amount was Olivar, who joined the organization out of Venezuela for just $20,000 in July 2019. After struggling in his 2021 debut in the Florida Complex League, something clicked in 2022 as he led the circuit with a 1.047 OPS over 40 games and finished the year in full-season ball.
The reigning FCL Most Valuable Player, Olivar has a unique profile as a catcher who also plays center field. The right-handed hitter worked to improve his swing decisions, and it paid off. He impacted the ball on a more regular basis while limiting strikeouts and drawing a good amount of walks. He still chases a bit too much and struggled with pitchers on the outer half, but the Twins like his swing and think he has the chance to hit with his excellent bat-to-ball skills.
An athletic catcher, Olivar will continue to get as many reps behind the plate as possible, but the Twins want him to continue to use that athleticism to play a solid center field, and he even played a little second base last year. It’s not common, but the Twins are bullish on his versatility.
