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From business to baseball, Oliver Pudvar’s always lived with a chip on his shoulder
CHATHAM, Mass. — It’s three and a half hours until first pitch, and one of the best pitchers in the Cape Cod Baseball League has just arrived at Veterans Field. He’s sporting his everyday Oakley glasses and a pair of tan flip-flops. He stands a couple inches shy of 6-foot, a thin mustache sitting across his upper lip. He climbs out of the Chatham dugout and takes a seat in the bleachers.
Where to even begin?
There are a lot of things to talk about with Oliver Pudvar. He’s a Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star pitcher, leading the Anglers with 30 strikeouts and 29.1 innings pitched. His player bio alone reveals that, in high school, he pitched with a hockey helmet for a month and briefly ran a donut business to support gorilla rehabilitation. Now, he runs a fully-funded sunflower seed company called Chip’s Seeds, which has boomed in popularity over the past few years.
Nothing about that bio screams Cape League star. But nothing about his story really does, either. He was always called undersized. He comes from Vermont — not exactly a hotbed of baseball talent — and his fastball didn’t touch 80 miles per hour until his sophomore year of high school.
In a way, he’s built a career by refusing to fit the mold of a traditional all-star pitcher. The Cape is a place where the brightest young arms have come to blow scouts away for decades. And here sits Pudvar, one of the A’s oldest pitchers, topping out in the low 90s and running a sunflower seed company in his free time.
But Pudvar’s shown time and time again that he’s built to compete at the highest level. He has enough wacky stories to fill up a children’s book, each one displaying his competitiveness and unceasing belief in himself. And it’s gotten him here, to Veterans Field, where he’s gearing up for his seventh appearance of the summer.
“He's incredible because, in a world of analytics, spin rate, velo, he still links the baseball purist to what we really like about the game,” UConn pitching coach Joshua MacDonald said. “You don't need to look like Randy Johnson to be successful. You can look like your local accountant.”
Somewhere in the corner of some garage, a travel ball coach stored the item that inadvertently booked Pudvar’s ticket to Division I baseball.
Pudvar entered the summer of 2021 as a widely unknown prospect. He was heading into his senior year, so if there was ever a time to show coaches that he could be a legitimate college pitcher, it was then. But early that summer, he took a pitch to the face, which broke his jaw in two places and required surgery. He thought he couldn’t avoid the inevitable. His chance to prove himself was gone.
“I was like, ‘Well, this is it,’” Pudvar recalls. “‘It’s over.’”
There was one potential saving grace. Doctors told him he couldn’t hit, but he could pitch if he agreed to wear a padded hockey helmet on the mound. It wasn’t even a question. Pudvar was going to do whatever he could to give himself a shot to play at the next level. So, his travel ball coach unearthed his old helmet — a bright yellow one he wore in high school — from his garage.
And thus, in one of the most important summers of his life, there was Pudvar, trying to convince college coaches he was a serious prospect while wearing one of the most unserious accessories he possibly could. As his mother, Kathie, recalls it, most of the crowd found themselves wondering the same thing:
What is this wacko kid doing?
“It was kind of a blessing in disguise,” Pudvar says now. “It was like you were forced to watch.”
And people did. Pudvar wore the helmet for a month, and didn’t allow an earned run in that span. Being underestimated has never really bothered him. In a sense, he has been his whole career.
Pudvar had one Division I offer out of Champlain Valley Union High School (Vermont), even after fanning 18 batters to win a state championship as a junior. He missed his sophomore season at Manhattan College due to Tommy John surgery, which hurt his chances of transferring to a lot of Power Five programs. UConn took a chance, offering him the last scholarship it had that summer, but there were never any promises that Pudvar would play at all.
“I feel like, at every step of the game for me, I've had to prove myself double the amount of what other people have had to,” Pudvar said. “I think it's almost shocking to some people, where it's like, ‘Oh, this guy can actually play.’”
His competitiveness, which MacDonald says is his greatest trait, has guided him everywhere. When he was a little leaguer, he used to grow so frustrated with his teammates' errors, he’d sometimes ask his mom why the other kids didn’t love baseball as much as he did. When he got to the age where his teammates did care, he never wanted to leave them out to dry.
Which is why, the day after he underwent jaw surgery, he insisted his family drive to Maine to see his travel team play. Pudvar, still loopy from the procedure, ended up spending most of the afternoon catching up on sleep in the hotel. But at one point, he was there supporting his team. That’s all that mattered to him.
“I think it just goes to show how determined Ollie’s been all this time,” Kathie said.
As Pudvar’s parents made their first trip to Storrs in 2024, they missed a few key steps in that commute. On the morning of his official visit to UConn, Pudvar drove down separately from Rhode Island, while his parents accidentally navigated to UConn’s Waterbury campus, over an hour away. So, as Pudvar and Penders looked for a way to pass the time, they talked.
It was exactly what Penders had hoped for. By the time they hosted Pudvar for a visit, the Huskies’ coaches hadn’t seen him pitch in person. MacDonald received a recommendation from Greg Shaw III — another former Manhattan pitcher — and had watched some film. But Penders was far more intrigued by the anecdotes in Pudvar’s Manhattan bio. “I want to meet him regardless of whether or not he can pitch,” Penders recalls thinking. MacDonald ordered seeds to try before Pudvar even joined the team.
The coaches picked Pudvar’s brain about the stories they’d heard. Pudvar pictured himself recovering from his injury with UConn’s support, and suiting up for the Huskies once he was healthy. The coaches were honest with him, and said he probably wasn’t going to have a significant role right away.
That was fine with him, though. When Pudvar's parents arrived it became clear that UConn was a perfect fit all-around. He bet on himself, committing to the Huskies that July.
His character got him a foot in the door. His talent made it fly open.
Pudvar performed well in a preseason showcase in Puerto Rico, gradually earning more innings before the regular season. In 2025, his first year with the Huskies, he pitched to a 3.60 earned run average and totaled 73 strikeouts. This past spring, he ranked second in the Big East with seven wins and tossed a career-high 76 innings.
MacDonald said one of his key factors in recruiting is identifying “winners,” guys he says will compete no matter what. Pudvar fit the mold, and continues to do so. This past May, he attended his sister’s wedding in Vermont on a Saturday, and hauled down to New Jersey that same night so he could start against Seton Hall Sunday afternoon. He even expressed interest in trying out as a kicker for the football team, which Penders said he’s never had a player do.
Penders and MacDonald have encouraged him to play to his strengths –– pitching to contact rather than chasing strikeouts. His velocity has certainly ticked up a few notches, but he's never going to light up a radar gun. That's why he and MacDonald are constantly tinkering with pitches to add to his arsenal, being crafty rather than powerful.
“He believes in his stuff. He believes in himself, but he's amenable to change,” Penders said. “That's one of his greatest strengths.”
His ability to do the opposite in all other aspects of his life might be an even greater strength. Pudvar’s made it this far by constantly staying true to himself. That’s why he caught Penders’ eye in the first place.
One Sunday evening this spring, after a game Pudvar had just won, UConn director of equipment services Chris Stasaitis drove out of Storrs to his home in Coventry. As he winded through neighborhoods near campus, a familiar face caught his eye. There was Pudvar, pushing a lawnmower outside his place, perfecting his grass as if it were a brisk Saturday morning and he hadn’t pitched a Division I baseball game a few hours before.
“I don't think you're going to find too many weekend starters at our level of Division I baseball mowing their lawn the same day they start,” Penders said. “Who knows? He probably went to Rhode Island to make a batch of seeds after.”
***
The game starts in three hours, and a few of Pudvar’s teammates are trickling in as the A’s prepare for their matchup against Falmouth. He’s still here on the bleachers. He’s talking about the future.
Pudvar’s family told him to do what you love until you can’t anymore. Baseball is the plan until it can’t be anymore. He’s prepared for the possibility that it could take him all over the world, maybe even to A’s manager Dennis Cook’s pro team in Dubai if the opportunity presents itself. He’s been doubted plenty of times before. It’s not going to stop him any time soon.
“I have visions of myself being able to get to the highest level,” he says, peering towards the center field fence. “Every day I dream about it, and hopefully, one day, it becomes the reality.”
The backup plan isn’t too bad, either. The hope is for Chip’s to bring a stable career, but even if it doesn’t, he knows he wants to run his own business. Pudvar loves the freedom that comes with being an entrepreneur. Kathie said she could never see him working for anyone other than himself.
For now, the two dreams coexist.
As the breeze blows over the bleachers on the left field line, more of Pudvar’s teammates begin congregating near the Anglers’ dugout. He wraps up his final thought, bids farewell and walks down the steps of the dugout. “Team stretch in 20 minutes, let’s go,” Cook hollers to his team.
It’s time to go chase the first one.
Where to even begin?
There are a lot of things to talk about with Oliver Pudvar. He’s a Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star pitcher, leading the Anglers with 30 strikeouts and 29.1 innings pitched. His player bio alone reveals that, in high school, he pitched with a hockey helmet for a month and briefly ran a donut business to support gorilla rehabilitation. Now, he runs a fully-funded sunflower seed company called Chip’s Seeds, which has boomed in popularity over the past few years.
Nothing about that bio screams Cape League star. But nothing about his story really does, either. He was always called undersized. He comes from Vermont — not exactly a hotbed of baseball talent — and his fastball didn’t touch 80 miles per hour until his sophomore year of high school.
In a way, he’s built a career by refusing to fit the mold of a traditional all-star pitcher. The Cape is a place where the brightest young arms have come to blow scouts away for decades. And here sits Pudvar, one of the A’s oldest pitchers, topping out in the low 90s and running a sunflower seed company in his free time.
But Pudvar’s shown time and time again that he’s built to compete at the highest level. He has enough wacky stories to fill up a children’s book, each one displaying his competitiveness and unceasing belief in himself. And it’s gotten him here, to Veterans Field, where he’s gearing up for his seventh appearance of the summer.
“He's incredible because, in a world of analytics, spin rate, velo, he still links the baseball purist to what we really like about the game,” UConn pitching coach Joshua MacDonald said. “You don't need to look like Randy Johnson to be successful. You can look like your local accountant.”
Oliver Pudvar readies for a pitch against Yarmouth-Dennis in Chatham's 7-3 loss on July 14. Pudvar leads the Anglers with 30 strikeouts and 29.1 innings pitched this summer. Photograph by Alistair Hennessey
***
Somewhere in the corner of some garage, a travel ball coach stored the item that inadvertently booked Pudvar’s ticket to Division I baseball.
Pudvar entered the summer of 2021 as a widely unknown prospect. He was heading into his senior year, so if there was ever a time to show coaches that he could be a legitimate college pitcher, it was then. But early that summer, he took a pitch to the face, which broke his jaw in two places and required surgery. He thought he couldn’t avoid the inevitable. His chance to prove himself was gone.
“I was like, ‘Well, this is it,’” Pudvar recalls. “‘It’s over.’”
There was one potential saving grace. Doctors told him he couldn’t hit, but he could pitch if he agreed to wear a padded hockey helmet on the mound. It wasn’t even a question. Pudvar was going to do whatever he could to give himself a shot to play at the next level. So, his travel ball coach unearthed his old helmet — a bright yellow one he wore in high school — from his garage.
And thus, in one of the most important summers of his life, there was Pudvar, trying to convince college coaches he was a serious prospect while wearing one of the most unserious accessories he possibly could. As his mother, Kathie, recalls it, most of the crowd found themselves wondering the same thing:
What is this wacko kid doing?
“It was kind of a blessing in disguise,” Pudvar says now. “It was like you were forced to watch.”
And people did. Pudvar wore the helmet for a month, and didn’t allow an earned run in that span. Being underestimated has never really bothered him. In a sense, he has been his whole career.
Pudvar had one Division I offer out of Champlain Valley Union High School (Vermont), even after fanning 18 batters to win a state championship as a junior. He missed his sophomore season at Manhattan College due to Tommy John surgery, which hurt his chances of transferring to a lot of Power Five programs. UConn took a chance, offering him the last scholarship it had that summer, but there were never any promises that Pudvar would play at all.
“I feel like, at every step of the game for me, I've had to prove myself double the amount of what other people have had to,” Pudvar said. “I think it's almost shocking to some people, where it's like, ‘Oh, this guy can actually play.’”
His competitiveness, which MacDonald says is his greatest trait, has guided him everywhere. When he was a little leaguer, he used to grow so frustrated with his teammates' errors, he’d sometimes ask his mom why the other kids didn’t love baseball as much as he did. When he got to the age where his teammates did care, he never wanted to leave them out to dry.
Which is why, the day after he underwent jaw surgery, he insisted his family drive to Maine to see his travel team play. Pudvar, still loopy from the procedure, ended up spending most of the afternoon catching up on sleep in the hotel. But at one point, he was there supporting his team. That’s all that mattered to him.
“I think it just goes to show how determined Ollie’s been all this time,” Kathie said.
Oliver Pudvar signs an autograph for a fan before Chatham's 5-4 win over Brewster on June 19. Before Pudvar played in college, he pitched with a hockey helmet for a month while recovering from a jaw injury. Photograph by Alistair Hennessey
***
The Champlain Valley Union baseball coaching staff had seen enough. It was the spring of 2022, and the Redhawks were gearing up for a practice. Because of the snowy conditions across Vermont in the early spring months, this particular one was held indoors.
Coincidentally, it was also one of the first times Pudvar and his friend Chase Whitman brought their newest class experiment. The two seniors handed out Ziploc bags of maple syrup-coated sunflower seeds to some of their teammates. Halfway through the practice, the CVU gym’s hardwood floor was coated in sticky shells. A coach ripped into the team, declaring that this whole seed experiment — whatever it was — was officially “done.”
It was really only the beginning.
Pudvar and Whitman were partnered in an entrepreneurship class that year, and were tasked with creating a business idea. The two CVU baseball teammates figured sunflower seeds were a fitting product. Whitman said mainstream brands were often packed with sodium and artificial ingredients, and his family ran a small maple sugaring operation in Vermont. So, he and Pudvar pitched the idea for all-natural seeds in new flavors, primarily made with maple syrup.
It began as an operation in their parents’ kitchen, where they manually mixed seeds and syrup in plastic bags. Eventually, they discovered that, by boiling syrup, it would crystallize around a seed. Once they perfected that recipe, the business had its legs.
It wasn’t their first attempt at one, though. A landscaping company got the boys interested in entrepreneurship. Then there was Doughconutz, the coconut-oil based donut company the two briefly operated that — through some connection between coconut oil and environmental sustainability — donated proceeds to gorilla rehabilitation. That one fell through pretty quickly, after their first batch of donut holes was — as Pudvar recalls — “awful.”
Chip’s always felt like a more serious commitment. The boys started by dishing seeds to their friends and teammates, and eventually began selling at local baseball tournaments and farmer’s markets. By April 2024, they had Chip’s stocked in their first retail store in Vermont.
In his time at Manhattan, Pudvar helped the company win funding in two pitch competitions. Whitman — now an economics and finance student at Bryant University — handles the numbers. Pudvar uses his baseball connections to market the company, and Chatham has been the perfect platform. “I’m literally playing with my clientele,” he says. Pudvar’s had teammates, opponents and big leaguers record taste tests for Instagram, and now has Chip’s stocked in concession stands at Veterans Field and Bourne’s Doran Park.
“He's got some courage about him,” UConn head coach Jim Penders said. “I see that on the mound, but I also see it in how he promotes his brand.”
It’s come so naturally to Pudvar because it showcases the same qualities he’s always shown on the diamond. When he’s on the mound, he has to believe he’s the best pitcher in the world. When he’s selling seeds, he has to believe his product is the best on the market. Pudvar’s never done many things at less than 100%. Chip’s is no different. “We're either gonna make it big, I feel like, or we're gonna go bankrupt with this thing,” he says. “It’s kind of do-or-die.”
He understands the competition he faces to make Chip’s a big-name brand. But that’s nothing new. The company motto is “Have a Chip on Your Shoulder.”
Pudvar always has.
Coincidentally, it was also one of the first times Pudvar and his friend Chase Whitman brought their newest class experiment. The two seniors handed out Ziploc bags of maple syrup-coated sunflower seeds to some of their teammates. Halfway through the practice, the CVU gym’s hardwood floor was coated in sticky shells. A coach ripped into the team, declaring that this whole seed experiment — whatever it was — was officially “done.”
It was really only the beginning.
Pudvar and Whitman were partnered in an entrepreneurship class that year, and were tasked with creating a business idea. The two CVU baseball teammates figured sunflower seeds were a fitting product. Whitman said mainstream brands were often packed with sodium and artificial ingredients, and his family ran a small maple sugaring operation in Vermont. So, he and Pudvar pitched the idea for all-natural seeds in new flavors, primarily made with maple syrup.
It began as an operation in their parents’ kitchen, where they manually mixed seeds and syrup in plastic bags. Eventually, they discovered that, by boiling syrup, it would crystallize around a seed. Once they perfected that recipe, the business had its legs.
It wasn’t their first attempt at one, though. A landscaping company got the boys interested in entrepreneurship. Then there was Doughconutz, the coconut-oil based donut company the two briefly operated that — through some connection between coconut oil and environmental sustainability — donated proceeds to gorilla rehabilitation. That one fell through pretty quickly, after their first batch of donut holes was — as Pudvar recalls — “awful.”
Chip’s always felt like a more serious commitment. The boys started by dishing seeds to their friends and teammates, and eventually began selling at local baseball tournaments and farmer’s markets. By April 2024, they had Chip’s stocked in their first retail store in Vermont.
In his time at Manhattan, Pudvar helped the company win funding in two pitch competitions. Whitman — now an economics and finance student at Bryant University — handles the numbers. Pudvar uses his baseball connections to market the company, and Chatham has been the perfect platform. “I’m literally playing with my clientele,” he says. Pudvar’s had teammates, opponents and big leaguers record taste tests for Instagram, and now has Chip’s stocked in concession stands at Veterans Field and Bourne’s Doran Park.
“He's got some courage about him,” UConn head coach Jim Penders said. “I see that on the mound, but I also see it in how he promotes his brand.”
It’s come so naturally to Pudvar because it showcases the same qualities he’s always shown on the diamond. When he’s on the mound, he has to believe he’s the best pitcher in the world. When he’s selling seeds, he has to believe his product is the best on the market. Pudvar’s never done many things at less than 100%. Chip’s is no different. “We're either gonna make it big, I feel like, or we're gonna go bankrupt with this thing,” he says. “It’s kind of do-or-die.”
He understands the competition he faces to make Chip’s a big-name brand. But that’s nothing new. The company motto is “Have a Chip on Your Shoulder.”
Pudvar always has.
Oliver Pudvar (left) and Angel Cervantes (right) pose with a bag of Chip's Maple Mania sunflower seeds. Pudvar and his friend Chase Whitman began Chip's Sunflower Seeds as seniors in high school. Photograph by Alistair Hennessey
***
The town of Storrs, Connecticut, home to about 15,000 full-time residents, is situated toward the northeast part of the state. From Vermont, it’s most easily accessible from Interstate 91 toward Hartford. That’ll offer an exit to I-291 East, which connects to I-84 toward Storrs.***
As Pudvar’s parents made their first trip to Storrs in 2024, they missed a few key steps in that commute. On the morning of his official visit to UConn, Pudvar drove down separately from Rhode Island, while his parents accidentally navigated to UConn’s Waterbury campus, over an hour away. So, as Pudvar and Penders looked for a way to pass the time, they talked.
It was exactly what Penders had hoped for. By the time they hosted Pudvar for a visit, the Huskies’ coaches hadn’t seen him pitch in person. MacDonald received a recommendation from Greg Shaw III — another former Manhattan pitcher — and had watched some film. But Penders was far more intrigued by the anecdotes in Pudvar’s Manhattan bio. “I want to meet him regardless of whether or not he can pitch,” Penders recalls thinking. MacDonald ordered seeds to try before Pudvar even joined the team.
The coaches picked Pudvar’s brain about the stories they’d heard. Pudvar pictured himself recovering from his injury with UConn’s support, and suiting up for the Huskies once he was healthy. The coaches were honest with him, and said he probably wasn’t going to have a significant role right away.
That was fine with him, though. When Pudvar's parents arrived it became clear that UConn was a perfect fit all-around. He bet on himself, committing to the Huskies that July.
His character got him a foot in the door. His talent made it fly open.
Pudvar performed well in a preseason showcase in Puerto Rico, gradually earning more innings before the regular season. In 2025, his first year with the Huskies, he pitched to a 3.60 earned run average and totaled 73 strikeouts. This past spring, he ranked second in the Big East with seven wins and tossed a career-high 76 innings.
MacDonald said one of his key factors in recruiting is identifying “winners,” guys he says will compete no matter what. Pudvar fit the mold, and continues to do so. This past May, he attended his sister’s wedding in Vermont on a Saturday, and hauled down to New Jersey that same night so he could start against Seton Hall Sunday afternoon. He even expressed interest in trying out as a kicker for the football team, which Penders said he’s never had a player do.
Penders and MacDonald have encouraged him to play to his strengths –– pitching to contact rather than chasing strikeouts. His velocity has certainly ticked up a few notches, but he's never going to light up a radar gun. That's why he and MacDonald are constantly tinkering with pitches to add to his arsenal, being crafty rather than powerful.
“He believes in his stuff. He believes in himself, but he's amenable to change,” Penders said. “That's one of his greatest strengths.”
His ability to do the opposite in all other aspects of his life might be an even greater strength. Pudvar’s made it this far by constantly staying true to himself. That’s why he caught Penders’ eye in the first place.
One Sunday evening this spring, after a game Pudvar had just won, UConn director of equipment services Chris Stasaitis drove out of Storrs to his home in Coventry. As he winded through neighborhoods near campus, a familiar face caught his eye. There was Pudvar, pushing a lawnmower outside his place, perfecting his grass as if it were a brisk Saturday morning and he hadn’t pitched a Division I baseball game a few hours before.
“I don't think you're going to find too many weekend starters at our level of Division I baseball mowing their lawn the same day they start,” Penders said. “Who knows? He probably went to Rhode Island to make a batch of seeds after.”
Chatham's Oliver Pudvar toes the rubber in the A's 5-3 win over Wareham on July 28. At UConn this past spring, Pudvar ranked second in the Big East conference with seven wins. Photograph by Alistair Hennessey
***
Pudvar’s family told him to do what you love until you can’t anymore. Baseball is the plan until it can’t be anymore. He’s prepared for the possibility that it could take him all over the world, maybe even to A’s manager Dennis Cook’s pro team in Dubai if the opportunity presents itself. He’s been doubted plenty of times before. It’s not going to stop him any time soon.
“I have visions of myself being able to get to the highest level,” he says, peering towards the center field fence. “Every day I dream about it, and hopefully, one day, it becomes the reality.”
The backup plan isn’t too bad, either. The hope is for Chip’s to bring a stable career, but even if it doesn’t, he knows he wants to run his own business. Pudvar loves the freedom that comes with being an entrepreneur. Kathie said she could never see him working for anyone other than himself.
For now, the two dreams coexist.
As the breeze blows over the bleachers on the left field line, more of Pudvar’s teammates begin congregating near the Anglers’ dugout. He wraps up his final thought, bids farewell and walks down the steps of the dugout. “Team stretch in 20 minutes, let’s go,” Cook hollers to his team.
It’s time to go chase the first one.
