Matt Olson, the Oakland Athletics feared slugging first baseman, stormed onto the scene in 2017 as he hammered 24 ding dongs in just 189 at- bats and asserted himself as a big time target for drafters coming into the 2018 season. Though his 2018 season was by no means a disappointment, his 29 homeruns and 117 WRC+ over 162 games fell far short of the insane expectations some people had for him entering the year. This caused him to be labelled as somewhat of a disappointment and overlooked coming into the 2019 season. Then just two games into the season this year, Olson broke his hamate bone in his hand when he fouled off a pitch against Yusei Kikuchi. Due to the nature of the injury, broken hamate bones have been notorious for sapping the power out of a hitter, a lot of fantasy owners decided it was time to either shop Olson or cut ties all together. However, for those of you that bought low on the 25 year old slugger or held on to the glimmer of hope that he would return close to his preinjury form, well you were rewarded 10x over.

Since returning from injury, Olson has done nothing short of destroying baseballs. His slash line sits at .245/.330/.554 with 17 HR over 55 games this season but a look at his advanced metrics paints a more ferocious picture. His hard hit rate is the highest of his career at 54.1%, which is 7 ½ % points better than his career average, and combining this with the highest fly ball rate of Olson’s career, the power appears to be something that can be relatively sustainable. Especially looking at his HR/FB rate which currently sits at 23%, which puts him right in between Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson (while also hitting the ball a lot harder than them), this seems to suggest that this power breakout is for real. Further diving into Olson’s statcast data, he ranks in the 95th percentile in xSLG and in the 93rd percentile in xwOBA which can be contributed to a career high barrel rate.

Essentially when Olson gets a pitch in the wheelhouse, his barrel finds it. His 16.9% barrel rate puts him in the top 2% in the league, and has caused him to wreak havoc on RHP and southpaws alike. This Platoon steadiness paired with his gold glove defense also assures a spot in the lineup for Olson everyday, making him a lock for set it and forget it owners.

In summary, Matty O’s newfound approach of being able to lift the ball at will while also significantly increasing his barrel rate looks as though he is poised for a career breakout year. Sitting in the middle of a sneaky good Athletics lineup, provides him with a bunch of protection as well and he should continue to see good pitches, and run driving in opportunities. If there was ever a time to go out and get left handed masher, now would be the time to do it.