"Ever since I first picked up a baseball, it’s been my dream to play in the pros and I’ll never forget that feeling of seeing my name next to the Texas Rangers.”

Those were the words of Branford native Mike Olt after being selected by the Texas Rangers with the 49th pick of the first round in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft in 2010. Now, after two years of tearing it up professionally at the minor-league level, Mike Olt will get to live every young ballplayer’s ultimate dream of playing in the Major Leagues as he was promoted to the Rangers on Aug. 1.

Olt—a 2007 Branford High School graduate who then played three seasons at the University of Connecticut—was batting .287 with 27 home runs and 81 RBI for the Rangers’ Double-A affiliate, the Frisco Roughriders. Those impressive numbers gave Olt a great chance of getting promoted to big leagues and that aspiration indeed came to fruition for the 23-year-old, right-handed-hitting third baseman, who joins the American League West-leading Rangers (60-43) for their home game versus the Angels in Arlington, Texas on Aug. 2.

Olt’s baseball career in Branford saw him record a .475 batting average with the Hornets, a team for whom he was a three-time All-State selection and helped win a state championship in 2006. Olt was also a huge contributor to the success of the town’s American Legion program by helping Post 83 claim state and Northeast Region titles in 2005 and 2007, earning Most Valuable Player honors in both tournaments the latter year.

Mike then took his talents to the UConn Huskies, hitting .318 and clubbing 23 homers with 76 RBI to gain All-Big East distinction during the junior year that preceded him getting selected by the Rangers.

After that, Mike had a fine 2010 season for Texas’s Single-A squad, the Spokane Indians, followed by a quality 2011 campaign with the organization’s Advanced-A team, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, which earned Olt the honor of making the Carolina League’s All-Star Game. Those two seasons set up Mike—named by Baseball America as the best third baseman in the Rangers’ system—to get promoted to the big leagues and now Mike Olt gets the chance to show what he can do in “The Show.”