In late June, as Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson slogged through what qualified as a slump for him this year, he glanced at his numbers. He ignored that he flirted with the major league lead in home runs (25 by June 25) and RBIs (60). The number that caught his attention was his strikeout total: already nearly 100.
“It was too early for my liking,” he says now, seated in the visitors’ dugout at Citizens Bank Park, gazing at outfield bleachers in which he’d deposited three dingers in the last two days to extend his lead in the home run race, now 52. Olson, 29, has this year been the most fearsome slugger in the sport. But he wants to be a hitter first.
Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports
