Australian Right Fielder Trent Oeltjen competing for Unknown in MLB.
First big break
Oeltjen's first major professional break came in 2001, when Minnesota Twins scout Howard Norsetter signed him as a non-drafted free agent. His first major international breakthrough followed with Australia's Olympic baseball team at Athens 2004, where he won a silver medal. His MLB breakthrough came on 6 August 2009, when Arizona promoted him from Triple-A Reno after Justin Upton was injured. Oeltjen went 2-for-6 with a home run and two stolen bases in his major-league debut, then hit three home runs in his first four MLB games and collected 12 hits in his first five games.
Key stats & awards
Oeltjen's MLB career line was 99 games, 164 at-bats, 36 hits, 26 runs, five home runs, 11 runs batted in and nine stolen bases, with a .220 batting average, .299 on-base percentage, .384 slugging percentage and .683 OPS. He was selected for the 2006 All-Star Futures Game for the World Team. In the 2009 World Baseball Classic he went 6-for-12 with one run, one RBI and two stolen bases. In the 2004 Athens Olympics he was part of Australia's silver-medal team.
Famous moments
Oeltjen's defining MLB moment was his 6 August 2009 debut for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Pittsburgh Pirates, when he recorded two hits, a home run and two stolen bases. He then homered three times across his first four major-league games and batted .500 over his first five games. His most significant international moment was Australia's 2004 Olympic campaign, which ended with a silver medal after a 6–2 final loss to Cuba. Oeltjen was also a batboy at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and worked with the United States team and manager Tommy Lasorda during the gold-medal game.
