I call him "Gentle Matt", as he stays pretty quiet and very rarely shows any emotion at all. In recent memory I remember one play and that was the play at first where if it was called out the Braves would win and if safe the game would have been tied and gone to extras or maybe even losing. The first base umpire called "safe" on the play and Matt ran toward the dugout with his hands cupped to his ears telling Snit to challenge in the wildest animated way and much more than anything I had ever witnessed from Matt Olson before. It had been a close play but I turned to my wife and said if Matt was reacting like that, that runner was out, 100% hands down. And as it turned out, surprise surprise Matt Olson was right! You know, if Matt could just start performing on a regular basis in the batters box, he would literally be the perfect baseball player, as he checks all the other boxes. Not asking for 54 home runs (only 50) but bump the average up around 35 or 40 points and start scaring these opposing pitchers everytime he steps in the box. We know its there, come on Matt, let it out! Go Braves!
Fun fact on Matt Olson: I've stood on the field in both North Port and Atlanta as he does infield drills and he never shuts up, with most of it being vulgar reactions to what he perceived as poor plays on his part.
On that play against Cincinnati, it was impressive that Olson made it to the ball so fast that he appeared on the shot before the camera angle changed from pitcher to fielding.
Yeah he crashed really early - even if the guy bunts that towards third, there's no way it's safe unless he gets it pretty hard up the line while keeping it fair
As much as I miss Freddie, I love watching Matty-O play the position. He's so smooth catching those foul balls, and he's great at throwing to other bases to get take out advancing runners.
I believe on one of the Behind the Braves episodes from this spring training, Olson said that throwing behind the runners was his favorite thing to work on.
I call him "Gentle Matt", as he stays pretty quiet and very rarely shows any emotion at all. In recent memory I remember one play and that was the play at first where if it was called out the Braves would win and if safe the game would have been tied and gone to extras or maybe even losing. The first base umpire called "safe" on the play and Matt ran toward the dugout with his hands cupped to his ears telling Snit to challenge in the wildest animated way and much more than anything I had ever witnessed from Matt Olson before. It had been a close play but I turned to my wife and said if Matt was reacting like that, that runner was out, 100% hands down. And as it turned out, surprise surprise Matt Olson was right! You know, if Matt could just start performing on a regular basis in the batters box, he would literally be the perfect baseball player, as he checks all the other boxes. Not asking for 54 home runs (only 50) but bump the average up around 35 or 40 points and start scaring these opposing pitchers everytime he steps in the box. We know its there, come on Matt, let it out! Go Braves!
Fun fact on Matt Olson: I've stood on the field in both North Port and Atlanta as he does infield drills and he never shuts up, with most of it being vulgar reactions to what he perceived as poor plays on his part.
His takes his defense seriously.
Since I was a kid, my favorite position has been 1st base. Matty-O makes it look soooooo easy. I'm a fan of his for sure
He's so smooth with it
On that play against Cincinnati, it was impressive that Olson made it to the ball so fast that he appeared on the shot before the camera angle changed from pitcher to fielding.
Yeah he crashed really early - even if the guy bunts that towards third, there's no way it's safe unless he gets it pretty hard up the line while keeping it fair
As much as I miss Freddie, I love watching Matty-O play the position. He's so smooth catching those foul balls, and he's great at throwing to other bases to get take out advancing runners.
I didn't even get to that in the article, but throwing behind runners at second or third is a thing for him that he's good at but I can't quantify it
I believe on one of the Behind the Braves episodes from this spring training, Olson said that throwing behind the runners was his favorite thing to work on.