DETROIT -- While creating the argument that he will be MLB’s best first baseman over the remainder of this decade, Matt Olson has capably replaced a beloved likely Hall of Famer and calmly handled the added responsibilities that come with playing for your hometown team.
“How he handles everything is unbelievable,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It blows me away how those boring pros play every day and have long, great careers because they don’t ride those crests and have those highs and lows.”
Snitker throws the term “boring pro” around a lot, but it truly does seem to apply to the soft-spoken Olson. The Braves’ first baseman looks like a cinch to win his third career Gold Glove Award, and he’s two homers shy of what would be his fifth 30-homer season. And he also claimed the National League lead when he tallied his 40th double in a 10-1 win over the Tigers on Friday night at Comerica Park.
“It’s never about himself,” Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers said. “He brings a lot of guys with him, and he makes players around him better.”
Four years later, the Braves’ reasoning for choosing to make a long-term investment in Olson -- rather than Freddie Freeman -- is looking even more sound. Freeman will one day join former Braves teammate Chipper Jones in Cooperstown, N.Y., and his No. 5 may hang in Truist Park at some point.
But even if you believe Freeman might have eventually accepted a five-year offer from Atlanta, the Braves were weighing how effective he’d remain into his mid-to-late 30s. Olson was the more attractive long-term option because he is five years younger than his predecessor.
Freeman constructed a magical World Series last year and he remains elite. But as he nears the end of his age-35 season, it’s hard to say he’s still the game’s best first baseman. It’s easier to give that title to Olson, who has four more years left on his contract, which includes a club option for 2030.
So, while it might have hurt to say goodbye to Freeman immediately after he helped the Braves win the 2021 World Series, there’s reason to be excited about what the future holds for Olson, who entered Friday leading all MLB first basemen with 6.1 bWAR (Baseball Reference’s Wins Above Replacement model) this year.
And to further signal there might be a changing of the guard, Olson (20.8) now ranks just ahead of Freeman (20.7) in bWAR since the start of the 2022 season.
If you’re into FanGraphs’ WAR model, Olson leads all MLB first basemen with 4.8 fWAR this year. But his 17.3 fWAR since the start of 2022 ranks second only to Freeman’s (21.8).
“I don't think WAR is perfect either,” Olson said. “There's always flaws and numbers, but, you know, the main focus is going and grinding and trying to win and enjoying being out there with the guys.”
Regardless of what you think about WAR, it’s remarkable how closely linked these two first basemen have remained. Olson’s RBI double in Friday’s lopsided win pushed him ahead of Freeman for sole possession of the NL lead.
Olson entered Sept. 13 needing seven homers over the team’s final 15 games to reach the 30-homer mark for the third time in four seasons with Atlanta. He homered five times over the next six games and now needs just two homers over the team’s final eight games to reach that total.
“Everybody loves clean numbers,” Olson said.
If Olson hits two more home runs, he’ll have matched the number of 30-homer seasons (3) Freeman had during his decade-plus tenure in Atlanta. Now, speaking of clean numbers, Olson finished with just 29 home runs last year. Does the absence of one homer significantly diminish the production?
Hank Aaron (15), Eddie Mathews (10), Andruw Jones (7), Chipper Jones (6) and Dale Murphy (6) are the only Braves with more than three 30-homer seasons. Olson could join this group as early as next year.
Or you could say he’s just one home run away from joining these same players as the only ones to have four 29-homer seasons for the Braves.
Or you could just say it’s good to see Olson finishing this season with a power surge similar to the ones he produced while tallying a franchise-record 54 homers in 2023.
“Some of those balls he hit this last series [at Nationals Park] had jet streams,” Snitker said.