Despite Matt Olson’s difficulties in 2024, the Braves still won big in the trade.

Despite the struggles, the Olson trade has continued to provide great value for the Braves.

There’s no mistaking Matt Olson’s generally difficult year thus far. As of August 12th, Matt’s walk rate (9.2%) and wRC+ (102) are at career lows, and his overall performance is his lowest since 2020. This is particularly upsetting in light of the incredible 2023 season, in which Matt set career highs in nearly every metric and at times carried the Atlanta Braves offense.

This performance has led to many frustrated fans that point back to Freddie Freeman, who is once again having a very strong year for the Los Angeles Dodgers and is outperforming Olson in just about every category outside of home runs. Even when you look at his advanced stats captured on Baseball Savant, while the hard-hit stats are still great, his expected batting average and slugging are not what you would hope for someone so important to the Braves lineup. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion as to what the Braves should have done, but let’s look at some of the reasons why making the move for Matt Olson still makes sense despite this year.

Despite current struggles, the Matt Olson trade was a major win for the Atlanta Braves Back in 2022, the Braves chose to move on from Freddie Freeman and obtain Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics in a trade that would end up being a 5 player deal. Atlanta traded catcher Shea Langeliers, outfielder Cristian Pache, and pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes for Matt. Shea, selected with the ninth pick in the 2019 draft, was considered one of the top catchers in the draft and has since manned the catching position for the Oakland Athletics, a position of strength for the Braves. Shea has hit .217/.278/.445 which is good for a 103 wRC+ which is solid for the catching position, but has struggled behind the plate – registering 56th out of 59th in catcher framing runs.

What implications did this have on Atlanta’s 40-man roster?

Shea, Pache, and Estes are all in the majors and Ryan Cusick is eligible for the Rule 5 draft. If they were still on the roster, all four players would be taking 40-man roster spots, creating a rather significant logjam of players.

Many disgruntled fans have responded to this performance by pointing out that Freddie Freeman, who is once again having a fantastic season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and is surpassing Olson in almost every category save home runs, is performing better. Although he still has excellent hard-hitting numbers, his predicted batting average and slugging are not what you would expect from someone who is so crucial to the Braves lineup, even when you look at his advanced analytics on Baseball Savant. While everyone is free to believe anything they want about what the Braves should have done, let’s examine some of the reasons that, even in light of this year, moving for Matt Olson still makes sense.