The Diamondbacks‘ pitching development staff continues to change this offseason. Dylan Olsonawski, one of the pitching coaches in the organization, announced he’ll be headed to Texas A&M. He’ll serve as their Director of Pitching.
Olsonawski brings to the Aggies experience in pitching development, both from the college and pro ranks. After playing collegiately with Concordia College (Minnesota), he became a graduate assistant with Arizona State before joining the Diamondbacks.
It comes as no surprise that the top college baseball programs are poaching from MLB organizations. With the advancement of player development at the top of college baseball, they’re rivaling pro development. That’s why you’re seeing some of the top college coaches getting key roles in player development on MLB teams.
His experience should serve Texas A&M well in trying to remain a top college baseball program. The Aggies missed the 2025 NCAA tournament following a year in which they finished as the runner-up in the 2024 College World Series.
Dylan Olsonawski’s Tenure with the Diamondbacks
Olsonawski joined the Diamondbacks organization in December 2021 as a player development associate. His primary responsibility was working with the pitchers on the Reno Aces, Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate. It was there that he developed relationships with many of the players currently on the Diamondbacks roster.
After three seasons in player development, Olsonawski shifted into coaching. He credits Brent Strom, who was the Diamondbacks’ pitching coach at the time, for helping cultivate his career in that area.
The last two seasons, he worked with the Diamondbacks’ ACL pitchers. In addition to mentoring pitchers at that level during their season, he also worked in the organization’s pitching lab. He described the role as “focusing in pitch design and assisted in Major League player plans” on LinkedIn .
Olsonawski got a bigger coaching opportunity in the Arizona Fall League in 2025. He took over in the second week for another Diamondbacks coach, Tyler Mark. He worked with Colorado Rockies Director of Pitching Flint Wallace in Arizona, mentoring players from the Diamondbacks, Rockies, Red Sox, Pirates, and Angels organizations.
I spoke to him during the Arizona Fall League for my newsletter, D-backs Under Review . This is what he said about coaching pitchers at the complex level, who are roughly the same age as college pitchers (18-22).
“I think the big thing, second year of ACL this last year, they kind of had to open up the toolbook on how to coach these guys. Certain things are going to work for guys that are at the higher levels isn’t going to work.”
Dylan Olsonawski’s Coaching Style
Olsonawski describes his coaching style as “servant leadership”. The reward for him is seeing pitchers he mentors go on to have future success.
“At the end of the day, that’s what this coaching is about: Servant leadership. You want to see these guys have success. We live through them, and when they have success, obviously it’s good for us, but you want to see these guys dominate.”
That type of leadership bodes well for coaching young players. He’ll be mentoring players who hope to achieve success at higher levels of competition years after his time with them ends.
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