Around the yard with 92.9 the Game Atlanta Braves insider Grant McAuley as he talked about how should the Braves handle slumping first baseman Matt Olson?
When asked if giving a day off would help Olson.
“I don’t know what you really do there, there’s not a really clear plan as a backup first baseman, I mean Austin Riley could play that spot if you needed him to I think. But they’re not really I think leaning that way about moving Austin across the diamond for a day just to give Matt Olson a day off,” McAuley said. “Because if you look at the schedule, even on the road trip there were two off days during the road trip, there was an off day right after the road trip. It’s not like the guy has played every day and hasn’t had any time off.”
McAuley talked about whether or not Olson should stay in the cleanup spot in order.
“Right now I just feel like more at-bats, more plate appearances is the way he’s going to work through this, but does he have to be given them at the cleanup spot, is a valid question and I’m not sure that the answer to that is yes. Because it feels like the point you are getting to is the Braves are kinda winning in spite of the middle of the order right now, not they’re purposely picking this time to not be great but other guys are stepping up.”