Career First Reflects Matt Olson's Dominant Run During Braves Season

Matt Olson delivered in the clutch again for the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night. He belted a soaring shot into the home bullpen to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth, 4-3. It was his fourth career walk-off home run, and his first in Atlanta.

The Braves trailed 3-2 heading into the frame. Tigers closer Kenley Jansen walked Ozzie Albies to lead off the inning and set up Olson for the big hit.

He got every bit of Jansen’s signature pitch: his cutter. Albies has swung over top of it a few times, and in the effort to avoid the double play, he knew he had to elevate it.

“I was, you know, trying to set my sights a little higher than I typically would,” Olson said. “And, you know, like I said, he kind of just left one over the middle.”

Jansen threw the cutter in a similar spot on the first pitch he showed Olson. He went back to that spot, whether he intended to or not, and Olson made him pay the price.

It was his ninth home run of the season. He’s batting over .300, and he’s pushed his OPS to 1.017. In the wider scope, he's also within striking distance of 300 career home runs. If there was a time when he was going to get that first walk-off home run as a member of the team, it’s now.

“I want to be careful saying it’s as good as I’ve seen him because ‘23 was ridiculous, but he’s swinging the bat really well,” manager Walt Weiss said.

Olson has also stressed that he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. It's a long season with its ups and downs. However, the numbers provide evidence that he is playing his best baseball at the current moment. His batting average, his slugging and his OPS are all ahead of what he finished with in 2023. His on-base percentage isn’t far behind.

He’s on pace for 47 home runs and 146 RBIs. He'd fall short of his career high for home runs that he set in 2023 (54), but he'd set a new personal best for runs batted in.

To take it a step further, he's leading the National League in bWAR (2.0), a 176 OPS+, doubles (13) and total bases (72). The numbers point to him having a career year, at least for now. If not a career year, because slumps inevitably happen, he's setting himself up for another trip to the Midsummer Classic in July.

To reflect how hard it can be to maintain certain metrics, Olson's batting average was only over .300 in the first weeks of the 2023 season, which is the case right now. His OPS was over 1.000 for a time later in the year, but most of the games in which he had it above that threshold were also in April. So, these numbers could come back down to earth at any time now.

To be fair to Olson, the whole team will probably have a low at some point. Their current pace has them winning 114 games. That's a historic run. Like with the pace that Olson is on, let's circle back in August and see if they're anywhere close to that.

Both Olson and the Braves look to keep their unreal paces going when they resume action on Thursday. Bryce Elder will be on the mound for a 12:15 p.m. first pitch as they aim to break out the brooms for a sweep.

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