Matt Olson Did Something Even Hank Aaron Couldn’t Do
On Tuesday night time, Matt Olson tied the Braves’ franchise document for residence runs in a season, with 51. Trivia time: Whose document did he tie?
Easy one, proper? Hank Aaron.
Only that’s the fallacious reply: Hank Aaron, the longtime residence run king, by no means hit 50 residence runs in a season.
The proper reply, as shocking because it appears, isn’t Aaron or one among his fellow Hall of Famers equivalent to Eddie Mathews and Chipper Jones. Olson, actually, tied the document set by Andruw Jones, the slick-fielding heart fielder, who hit 51 in 2005.
That Aaron might get to 755 residence runs, breaking Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 and holding that document till Barry Bonds got here alongside, with out ever hitting greater than 47 in a single season is definitely some of the unbelievable statistics within the recreation. Instead, Aaron received to his whopping profession complete with longevity, sturdiness and consistency.
Longevity: Aaron performed within the majors from age 20 to 42. Durability: He had 500 plate appearances in all however three late-career seasons. Consistency: He had eight seasons with 40 or extra residence runs, tied for the second most behind Ruth, and 15 seasons with 30 or extra, tied with Alex Rodriguez for essentially the most ever.
Aaron performed in an period when 50-homer seasons have been uncommon. From 1954 to 1976, the years of his profession, there have been solely 5 such seasons: two by Willie Mays, two by Mickey Mantle and one by Roger Maris. In distinction, there have been 12 within the Nineteen Nineties, 12 within the 2000s and 7 since 2010.
As for Olson, his second season in Atlanta has been a profession 12 months. In six seasons out and in of the Oakland A’s lineup, he confirmed residence run energy however couldn’t all the time preserve his batting common up.
When the Braves traded for him final 12 months to interchange the favored Freddie Freeman at first base, many followers have been involved. After a forgettable first season (.240, 34 residence runs), Olson has quieted the doubters this 12 months.
He has profession highs in common (.281) and on-base share (.388), and he leads the league in slugging (.619), runs batted in (128) and residential runs.
(Not that Freeman has been unhealthy for the Los Angeles Dodgers: He leads the league in on-base share at .416.)
How many extra residence runs can Olson hit this 12 months? Going into Wednesday night time, the Braves have 17 video games to play. Olson is averaging 0.35 homers a recreation, placing him on a tempo to hit six extra and attain 57. At the very least, he ought to get the one homer he must surpass Andruw Jones and maintain the Braves’ single-season document by himself.
Even if he loses the document to Olson, Andruw Jones, thought-about among the many high defensive outfielders in baseball historical past, is not going to quickly be forgotten by Atlanta’s followers. This 12 months, he was named on 58 % of the ballots for the Baseball Hall of Fame, wanting the 75 % required however shut sufficient to assume he might be enshrined sooner fairly than later. In 12 years with the Braves, he hit 368 residence runs, fifth on the crew record behind Aaron, Mathews, Chipper Jones and Dale Murphy.
While Bonds divided his 762 residence runs between the Pirates and Giants, Aaron performed solely two seasons for a crew apart from the Braves. So although he didn’t hit 50 in a season, and sits behind Olson and Andruw Jones on the single-season record, Aaron’s profession mark of 733 residence runs for a single crew seems near unassailable.
