I was pondering which 2023 APBA baseball to feature this week and it came down to “I can’t really ignore a guy who hit 54 homers”. So this week, it’s Atlanta’s first baseman Matt Olson 2023 card you get to read about.
2023 Matt Olson
Led NL with:
- 54 HR
- 139 rbis
- .604 SLG
All-Star, 4th in MVP voting
If you haven’t seen the cards of the 2023 Braves team yet, take a look. There are some crazy good cards on that team including 2023 Ronald Acuña who I featured a couple weeks ago.
Everyday player Matt Olson is another. He led the NL with 54 homers, 139 rbis and a .604 slugging percentage so he qualifies as a primo slugger. He’s more than that, though. He was able to hit .283 and get on base at a .389 clip. He also scored 127 runs himself.
He is also reportedly one of the best defensive first baseman in baseball.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Totals | 162 | 162 | 720 | 608 | 127 | 172 | 27 | 3 | 54 | 139 | 1 | 104 | 167 | .283 | .389 | .604 |
What makes Olson’s card so good?
Olson’s 2023 card comes with power numbers 1-1-5-5 which are very strong especially with runners on base. Not surprisingly, Atlanta usually batted him fourth. I noticed they occasionally batted him second which isn’t conducive to this card. His 5s convert to homers with runner on first, runner on second and runners on first and third. Get those runners on base before he gets to the plate!
Olson received four 8s and two 9s to help replicate his .283 batting average. To further that, he has five 14s including a 64-14.
As he has in previous years, Olson is rated as a 1B-5 which is the top fielding rating for first basemen in APBA.
Miscellaneous Matt
- One my favorite things about this card is that you can play it everyday. Not only did Olson play in 162 games in 2023, he started in all of them. League managers will love this guy with a J-0 rating!
- Olson has seven 13s. Nobody’s perfect.
- With 13 GIDP, Olson has one 24. That seems low until you consider his 720 plate appearances.
I may have a couple more 2023 Monster Cards I’ll be featuring in future weeks.
Stay tuned!
