Once the baseball season ends, most players (or at least the ones that don't play winter ball) do everything they can to enjoy the few months of downtime they get with their family and friends before the rigors of spring training and regular travel begin again in February. Pirates' pitcher Ross Ohlendorf is a little different. After his breakout year with the Pirates in 2009, he's spending the early part of his winter break on an internship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And he's writing a blog about it. Ohlendorf is already well-known to some baseball fans because of his college career. He went to Princeton, where he wrote his senior thesis on sabermetrically evaluating major league teams' first-round draft picks over a set period of time. So he's obviously a smart guy, and he's never been afraid to admit it. In fact, he sounds pretty excited about this internship. Click after the jump to read part of his first (and so far, only) post.
In addition to learning about USDA, I have been afforded some great opportunities through my internship. This week I went to a Tribal Leaders Reception for the National Congress of American Indians. I met several interesting people, both tribal leaders and people who work in other departments of the government. The reception was held in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. It was my first time visiting the museum and reminded me of all the great museums and government buildings in Washington, DC. I have been to a few of them now, with my favorite two being the Library of Congress and the National Archives. I'm looking forward to more great experiences in the weeks to come.Ohlendorf scored the internship after meeting Pittsburgh native and current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack after Vilsack threw out the first pitch of a Pirate game earlier this year.
It really does seem like Ohlendorf is enjoying himself, which is probably a good thing after the season the Pirates had. Ohlendorf was excellent in the second half , rediscovering his fastball late in the summer and increasing his strikeout rate, finally flashing the potential that made him one of the key players in both the trade that sent Randy Johnson from the Yankees back to the Diamondbacks and the trade that sent Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady to the Yankees from the Pirates. Still, a good season doesn't wash out the 99 losses the Pirates suffered as a team. Ohlendorf apparently just has a different method of clearing his mind than most of his teammates.
