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Los Alamitos High School head baseball coach Aaron Moore, himself a recent hire, announced the appointment of Don Olmstead as the school’s new junior varsity coach. Coach Moore joined the Los Al baseball staff as head coach in July of this year, replacing long time head coach Mark Clabough. See our exclusive interview with Coach Moor under related articles below.
Olmstead grew up in Rossmoor and attended Los Al high where he graduated in 2003. He was a standout football and baseball player, earning first team all-league honors in both sports, and was named Defensive Player of the Year in football and Offensive Player of the Year in baseball.
After graduating from LAHS, he played collegiate baseball at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, garnering scholar-athlete honors as the team’s starting catcher while playing for the Bulldogs for two years. He attended the University of Southern California and received a BS degree in Education in 2008. Olmstead has also been an assistant varsity baseball coach at Carson High School since 2005 and just completed his first season as the linebackers coach for Los Al’s varsity football program.
“Don knows baseball and he knows the community, so we are excited to have him join our program. I am looking forward to him stepping in and making an immediate contribution to our junior varsity team,” said Moore.
The appointment of Olmstead further expands the baseball organization at Los Al. Coach Moore said “When I took this job, I started fresh by bringing in guys that I feel comfortable with and that I thought would benefit the program and the kids.
Moore indicated he has one more position to fill. “I’m still trying to find a freshman coach, then I think I will have a pretty good coaching group.” The Los Al baseball staff also includes new Assistant Coach Cory Burton, whose Former students include Matt Holliday (St, Louis Cardinals), Luke Scott (Baltimore Orioles) and Hank Conger.
Also new to the Los Al baseball organization is Assistant Coach Greg Harris, who is perhaps best known as the only major league pitcher in the modern era to pitch with both the right and left arms. Harris spent fifteen years in the majors starting his career with the New York Mets and ending it with the Montreal Expos. He finished his career with a 74-90 record. Harris then moved on to open a pitching school in Los Alamitos and coaching in local Connie Mack and Mickey Mantle leagues. He also spent time as a pitching coach at Cal State LA, Concordia and Cypress College.
Coach Moore said Olmstead is “a great hire for us. Being able to have an alumni come back, a player that played here, also coaching football here—already knowing the kids on campus—is very helpful. He has expertise as a catcher. I brought with me an infield, hitting guy, I’m a pitching guy, Greg Harris is a pitching, and outfield, so we were missing that link, so it’s fantastic.”