It’s not hard to imagine the stifling amount of pressure that Matt Olson faced upon his arrival in Atlanta ahead of the 2022 season.
Replacing the face of the franchise, one of the most consistent hitters in baseball, and a guy whom the fanbase badly wanted to retain: Freddie Freeman. Oh, and Olson was returning to his hometown on top of that.
It would be enough to reduce the average person to dust.
But Matt Olson is not an average person, as he’s proven time and time again during his five-year Braves
tenure. It’s hard to think of many days where Olson has looked like he’s felt any sort of pressure whatsoever.
All he’s done is been an everyday first baseman — yet to miss a start in a Braves uniform and set to tie Stan Musial for the eighth-longest consecutive games played streak in major league history on Tuesday with consecutive game number 895 — and fill that void in an incredibly capable manner.
With his homer in Friday’s 6-2 win over the Nationals, Olson reached the 29-homer mark for the fifth time in as many seasons in Atlanta. But after he stopped at 29 each of the last two seasons, he blew past it with another homer Saturday and one more on Sunday for good measure.
His 31 homers are now tied for fourth-most in the majors and his 58 extra-base hits are one off the major-league lead held by Yordan Alvarez.
He’s now up to 177 homers as a Brave. With the pace he’s on, it’s entirely possible he breaks the franchise record of 190 homers in the first five seasons set by Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews.
He’s also second among active first basemen in OAA (32), which is positioning-neutral, while being first in both UZR (23) and DRS (91) (which credit positioning to the player).
“He’s become one of the best players in the game, when you take everything into consideration,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said earlier this week about Olson. “He changes the game on defense and he obviously changes the game in the (batter’s) box. He’s a leader in that clubhouse and he posts every day.”
Over nine full major league seasons, Olson has been a four-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and one-time Silver Slugger honoree. Given the fact that he’s at 319 career homers and turns 33 next March, joining the 400-homer club seems totally in grasp and even the 500 club, which currently has just 28 members, could happen if he can continue at close to this pace.
And yet, it doesn’t seem that Olson gets a widespread level of attention nationally that a player of his magnitude would receive.
Part of that could be how he wants things. There hasn’t been a change in production at first base in the transition but there’s been a bit of one in character going from Freeman’s magnanimous personality to Olson, who seems quieter and unassuming.
It probably also didn’t help Olson’s perception coming up that he began his career on an Oakland Athletics (RIP) team which didn’t make much noise nationally.
Whatever the reason may be, Olson has flown under the radar throughout his major league career. Even this season, when he’s carried the Braves to a comfortable NL East lead through myriad injuries to starters, two extended absences from Ronald Acuña Jr. and through elbow discomfort he’s battled at times this season.
Maybe being a part of a deeper Braves postseason run — they still haven’t won a playoff series since he’s been here — could help that.
It doesn’t seem to bother Olson, though. In fact, it may be exactly what he’s looking for, at least according to an interview with the AJC earlier this season when asked if he agrees that he is underrated.
“Honestly, my best answer is I don’t really care.”
