CHATHAM — The day had barely begun when Cory Olson got the phone call. He hadn’t even taken a bite of his breakfast.

The voice on the other end of the line was his coach at UC-Irvine Mike Gillespie, who informed Olson the Chatham A’s were seeking a supplemental player and asked if he’d be interested in playing in the Cape League.

Three days later, Olson, who had never been east of Colorado, crossed the Bourne Bridge, and a brief period after that, the bespectacled centerfielder had become a bona fide star in the nation’s best summer league. 

“My coach told me the league average is .220, so don’t worry if you struggle a bit,” said Olson. “I remember being nervous to show people what I can do and that I can play, but coach said, ‘let that nervousness work for you.’”

He did, and then some. 

The jetlagged Olson got a hit in his first game (June 24), followed by a 3-for-4 outing against Bourne, in which he was a home run short of the cycle. He had another 3-for-4 effort the next night against Wareham, starting his CCBL career with a torrid 10-for-13 clip. 

Just two weeks earlier, Olson was vacationing in Hawaii, a week after that he was hanging out at his home in Anaheim, Calif., and now here he was, still in the teething stages of his Cape League career and already playing a prominent role as the A’s number two hitter. 

“I came up here, got thrown in and it’s worked out,” said Olson. “It’s kind of been surreal and unbelievable to think that this is how my season has gone.”

A strange turn of events is nothing new to Olson, who began his circuitous college career as a kicker/wide receiver at Cal Lutheran, but fractured his right foot before he ever stepped onto the field. 

Olson switched schools and sports, red-shirting his freshman season at the school his father attended, Orange Coast Junior College in Costa Messa, where he hit .403 or .381, depending on which Olson you ask. 

“I hit .403 during the regular season, but finished with a .381 average if you include playoffs,” said Olson. “My dad hit .390, but he only played in 30 games. I played in 48, so my dad says he beat me, but I tell him that if we’re only counting the regular season, I beat him.”

The running joke continues between the father and the son, but it’s the younger Olson who may be remembered as the better ball player at the sea-side school after he hit .346 with 10 home runs while stealing 19 bases in 19 attempts this year. 

That earned the speedy slugger a selection on the All-State California team and a full ride at UC-Irvine, where he’ll play in the fall. For now, though, he’s happy to showcase his skills on a summer stage, and he’s hardly cooled off since his sizzling start. Olson, named a starter on the East All-Star team, sports a .372 average (fourth best among all Cape Leaguers), with 32 hits, nine RBIs and a .472 slugging percentage in 22 games. That’s rather remarkable for a guy who wasn’t expected to start. 

“Coach Gillespie told me I was going to get a good player, but he didn’t tell me I was going to get a player who hits around .400,” Chatham Field Manager John Schiffner marveled. “I was told I’d get a guy who can hit first or second in the lineup, can move guys over, can bunt, can play centerfield and that’s exactly what Cory has done. He’s going to battle you at the plate. He’ll bloop one here and one there, then whack one down the third base line and one in the gap.”

Olson’s ability to fill up the box score is most remarkable considering he’s never before hit with wood bats, used exclusively in the Cape League as a way to prep players for the pros. 

“It sounds simple, but I try to only swing at strikes and pitches in the zone of my swing,” said Olson. “If I get a hit, I get a hit, and if I get out, I get out. I don’t put pressure on myself. I see through the ball and let the bat do the work.”

Fast hands and a good eye can make a hitter good, but it’s experience that makes him great, and Olson has certainly broken himself in with approximately 400 appearances at the plate during his two years playing JUCO. 

“Unless they’re studs, most kids who go to Division One schools don’t play a lot until their junior year,” said Olson. “So I look at it as having 400 more ab’s than a kid who came out of high school and hasn’t played much since then. I think that’s why my game has developed so quickly over the past couple of years.”

Olson’s maturity never showed itself more than this past week. 

With his parents in the stands, Olson went 0-for-5 in Chatham’s 4-3 loss to Harwich on Thursday. But he bounced back with a 3-for-5 effort in the A’s 7-5 victory over Brewster the next night and drove in two runs in Chatham’s 10-3 win over the Whitecaps Saturday. 

“The best part about playing up here is that every day is a new day,” said Olson. “If I have a bad game one day, I don’t have to sit and think about it for a couple of days. Baseball is a game of failure, so if you hit .300 you’re an all-star and if you hit .400 you’re a god.”

There’s been a duel to be a deity among Olson and teammate Grant Green, who’ve alternated with the league’s best average. Green (.392) has surpassed him, but Olson was hitting .419 at one point last week.

“We don’t talk about it, but I think we strive back and forth with each other,” said Olson. “It’s good to have someone on your own team you’re battling with. I think it pushes us to hit.” 

A little extra incentive is what’s needed against an awesome arsenal of arms. 

“The pitching out here is 90-plus fastball with dirty curveballs, and it’s the same thing every game,” said Olson. “It’s not like you can say ‘oh that guy last night was really good but tonight we’ll be OK,’ because the guy you’re facing tonight is probably better than the night before.”

But Olson has no complaints. Had the phone call to play in the Cape League never come, he said he’d “probably be working out at UC-Irvine. I’d just be doing the small stuff and wouldn’t be playing summer ball, so this has definitely been a unique opportunity.”

One that Olson, hit after hit, is making the most of.