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Matt Olson 2022 Player Outlook: An Elite Power Bat With Newfound Batting Average Upside
3 years agoThe 2021 season was very kind to Atlanta Braves' first baseman Matt Olson. He posted career bests in homers (39), RBI (111), batting average (.271), and on-base percentage (.371). After his career year, the 27-year-old was traded from the Oakland A's to the Braves during Spring Training, and he will replace All-Star first baseman, Freddie Freeman. After the trade, he was rewarded with an eight-year, $168 million contract extension. All of this greatness occurred on a huge improvement in strikeout rate. Coming into that season, Olson's career K% was around 26%; he absolutely demolished that number with a 16.8% rate that nobody saw coming. He also maintained a strong walk rate at 13.1%. All of that meant that Olson was one of the game's premier power hitters, and he was one of the most valuable bats in fantasy even despite the lack of steals (4). His contact rate was actually right on pace with 2019, which raises questions about the elite strikeout rate. The most likely scenario is probably for the K% to stabilize around 20%, which would cost him a few batting average points. This really isn't anything to be concerned about, however, as Olson has proven himself to be a reliable source of elite power numbers, and now we have newfound batting average upside. With an elevated top-50 ADP, fantasy managers can draft Olson with confidence in 2022. The move to Atlanta is a massive upgrade over Oakland, and Olson is easily a top-5 fantasy first baseman in upcoming drafts.
