Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson sets franchise home run record

When the Atlanta Braves first acquired Matt Olson from Oakland, they knew they were getting a player that many casual fans of baseball were not familiar with. Although, Olson had put together some impressive power seasons and even earned an All-Star selection with Oakland in 2021.

In his first year with Atlanta Olson had what many felt to be no shortage of growing pains when attempting to replace long-time first baseman Freddie Freeman. However, when you looked at his numbers at the end of the season they were still more than serviceable.

This year, his hitting has reached another level. 2023 has been a career year for Olson with his current slash line sitting at .281/.388/.613 with a 1.006 OPS. He has an absurd 161 wRC+ to pair with an unreal .394 wOBA via Fangraphs.

We already knew Olson was among the most powerful hitters in the sport entering this season. What we didn’t know is that Olson would obliterate his previous career-high in home runs (39) and break Andruw Jones’ franchise record of 51 homers in a single season (2005).

Today, Olson belted a franchise record 52nd home run off of Marlins pitcher Steven Okert. Those 52 home runs and 129 RBI lead all of baseball in each category.

After Olson led the league in home runs in spring training, many Braves fans had hope of that display of power carrying over into regular season action. And carry it over Olson did. Of course, during the 162-game grind of a baseball season, Olson has had his share of ups and downs. However, no slump has ever felt prolonged with the Braves' first baseman, and his hot streaks feel about as hot as anyone can put together.

The home runs have come in bunches all season long for Olson, and his latest has rewarded him with the greatest single season for home runs in Braves history. Considering the established power hitters of this franchise, including the one this site is named after, I’d say Matt Olson has had a pretty good year.