"He is not Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, but he is star-level" - Braves analyst claims Matt Olson is among best 1B's with Freddie Freeman, Bryce Harper

The Atlanta Braves received backlash from fans for replacing star first baseman Freddie Freeman with Matt Olson. Olson had a down year last season but still managed to hit .247/.333/.457 with 29 home runs and 98 RBIs.

Despite this, Braves analyst Brad Rowland defended Olson, stating that he doesn't see him as a weak first baseman.

"There are plenty of metrics that would tell you he might be the second-best first baseman in the league. ... The best first baseman in the league is the guy that Braves had before Matt Olson, which changes the way he's discussed, which is not fair at all to him," Rowland said.

Rowland believes Olson doesn't need to be like Freddie Freeman to be a good player for the Braves. The analyst shared his views on how he sees Olson as a "star player" despite the consensus.

"It's not Matt Olson's fault he's not Freddie Freeman. ... They've traded for him to do a job and he's been quite good at his job since arriving at Atlanta," Rowland said. "He's been inconsistent a little bit, the one season was incredible, the other two have just been fine."

Furthermore, Rowland talked about how Olson can be considered alongside big names in MLB right now, like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.

"(In 2023) Matt finished fourth in voting but Matt Olson's 2023 season would have won MVP in several seasons. So he's capable of that, he's also capable of what happened this last year, where he was a two and a half-three win player really good," he said.

"I would call man Olson a star, I mean I don't think that that's hyperbole. You can debate whether he's a superstar or not. He's not Shohei Ohtani, he's not Aaron Judge, but he's a star-level player."

Chipper Jones also supports Matt Olson

Former Braves third baseman Chipper Jones also came to the defense of Matt Olson. Jones reshared a tweet where a fan mentioned that Olson had a down year last season and responded by pointing out that many MLB players would be happy to have Olson's "down year."

"U dont produce exactly the same every year," Jones wrote. "There are career years, there are years with little nagging injuries, there are years where u struggle with mechanics or u get pitched really well. Lotsa variables yall."

"Down year??? How many MLers would kill for his ‘down’ year?"

Olson will aim to bring back the magic of his 2023 season in 2025, even though he still remains a respected figure among analysts in 2024.