Matt Olson arrived locked and loaded for his first BP session Wednesday at the Braves’ spring training facility in North Port, Florida, stepping in the batter’s box to face new teammates Charlie Morton, Dylan Lee and William Woods. With the ink still drying on his eight-year, $168-million contract extension, Olson walloped a mammoth home run to deep right field, offering a glimpse of his superstar potential.
Olson’s predecessor, Freddie Freeman, leaves enormous shoes to fill at first base. But after blasting a career-high 39 homers last season, the reigning world champs hope Olson can be a reasonable facsimile, embodying many of the same traits that made Freeman a franchise icon and a candidate to eventually have his number retired at Truist Park.
Olson was acquired from the A’s in a five-player trade earlier this week, with Oakland receiving a strong prospect haul led by Dominican outfielder Cristian Pache (69th in MLB.com’s prospect rankings). It’s been a busy few days for the A’s, who continued their payroll shedding initiative Wednesday by flipping Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman for Blue Jays farmhands Kevin Smith, Zach Logue, Kirby Snead and Gunnar Hoglund, the latter a first-round pick in last year’s MLB Draft.
A Lilburn, Georgia native who starred at Parkview High School prior to being drafted in 2012, Olson hit a combined .252/.348/.511 with 142 homers and 373 RBI over his six-year stint in Oakland. The 6’5” slugger has yet to play an MLB game in Atlanta since debuting in 2016.
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