msstate7
Well-known member
Can't do it. Snit "fixed" Olson last year moving him from 2nd to 4th
GDT: 5/7/2024 - Red Sox at Braves; time to REYN[aldo] in the offense
- Thread starter UNCBlue012
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Here's a bit of trivia: Which major leaguer holds the record for most homers in a season by a LHH off of LHP?
Babe Ruth? Barry Bonds? Ryan Howard? Ken Griffey, Jr? Roger Maris? Luis Gonzalez?
Nope. It's Matt Olson with 22, and it wasn't last season.
Since Olson broke in he is 12th among all LHB in OPS vs LHP. In that time frame he leads all of MLB LHHs with homers vs. LHP by a wide margin.
Olson will be fine. As others have pointed out, he his hitting in horrible luck right now and that will very likely work itself out.
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Here's a bit of trivia: Which major leaguer holds the record for most homers in a season by a LHH off of LHP?
Babe Ruth? Ryan Howard? Ken Griffey, Jr? Roger Maris? Luis Gonzalez?
Nope. It's Matt Olson with 22, and it wasn't last season.
Since Olson broke in he is 12th among all LHB in OPS vs LHP. In that time frame he leads all of MLB LHHs with homers vs. LHP by a wide margin.
Olson will be fine. As others have pointed out, he is hitting in horrible luck right now and that will very likely work itself out.
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There's no way I bat Ozuna 5th in the order, but the point stands. The decision to bring in a LHP for Olson needs to be a harder decision for opposing managers. It is currently a no-brainer, which is why he has faced so many LHP.
Olson is better vs RHP than he is vs LHP. This is an indisputable and inarguable fact backed by every single statistic available.
Therefore, it is the managers job to get him as many PAs vs RHP as possible.
Snit fails to do almost every single managerial job of a tactical nature.
It's really as simple as that. Whether or not he will be fine (he will be) is another topic of discussion. He will be more likely to be more fine if Snit could ever manage to rub more than 2 brain cells together.
LOL. Of course he's better vs. RHP. My response was the the OP who suggested he should never get another plate appearance vs LHP.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
Actually I said he wouldn’t because a lefty would be punished. Not that he shouldn’t. You don’t sub Olson unless he has a day off.
Although Olson is better vs RHP, he's not THAT much better.
For his career, vs RHP .259/.362/.538
For his career, vs LHP .241/.323/.467
So is it worth it to do a wholesale lineup shuffle? Because if you get Olson a few more ABs vs RHP, you also do the same for Albies, who has a more severe platoon split. You will also deprive Riley (who has similar platoon splits as Olson) of ABs vs LHP.
msstate7
Well-known member
.790 ops vs .900 ops - that's a pretty big difference
Here is the point. If you juggle the lineup where in the later innings Olson will see more RHP, that means that the three batters closest to him in the order (Albies, Riley, Ozuna) will also see more RHP and all three would be at a disadvantage
Here are the OPS splits of those three.
Albies: .759 vs RHP, .919 vs LHP
Riley: .824 vs RHP, .906 vs. LHP
Ozuna: .794 vs RHP, .843 vs LHP
And if you bunch him with TDA: .713 vs RHP and .817 vs LHP.
If you follow Encheff's logic, the only Brave who needs to separated from Olson by three spots in the order is Harris, and last time I checked, that's happening.
If it's a late inning, I would much rather have Albies, Riley, Olson, Ozuna and TDA (in whatever order you place them) face LHP than RHP. And don't put Olson last in that sequence, because then he's hitting next to Harris, where a LHP would have a big advantage.
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bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
Your logic is flawed.. both Ozzie and Riley hit in front of Olson and behind Acuna. So what manager alive, other than twit, would ever bring in a lefty to face Acuna or Ozzie or Riley.. Ozuna would be the only guy who would benefit hitting behind Olson. And from your own numbers his splits are not enough to really care. So moving Olson to the 2 hole would protect him more versus a lefty reliever and it really isn't a whole lineup shuffle.. at worst you are just moving the top 6 around a little depending on how you order them.. Riley is still hitting 3rd.. you could move Ozuna to 4 then Harris then Ozzie.. that way if they bring in a left to face Harris, then RHH Ozzie is waiting.
I get all that, and don't disagree with batting Olson 2nd. That said, with the three batter rule, managers often make the pitching decision at the beginning of the inning. Thus if you bring in a RHP to face Albies and/or Riley, he has to face Olson. If you bring in a LHP knowing Olson is coming up either 2nd or 3rd, he has to face Albies and/or Riley first.
OTOH, if Olson (batting 4th) is leading off the inning and you bring in a lefty, he then has to face Ozuna, TDA, and/or Arcia.
Bottom line, Olson (.790 OPS) is still a decent hitter vs LHP, and as long as he is three spots removed from Harris, it's pretty much an academic discussion. If a manager brings a lefty to face Olson (whether or not he is leading off the inning) , he has to face two RHB (either Albies and Riley, or Ozuna and TDA/Arica) who have a platoon advantage, and in at least one case (Albies) has a large platoon advantage. Everybody talks about "lineup protection" in the context of who follows a hitter, but, especially with the three batter rule) it can also be viewed in the context of who precedes a hitter.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
The whole idea originated to get Arcia out of the 6th hole really.. because it was basically Olson/Ozuna/Arcia... ideally you would want Harris higher, but then you have Olson/Ozuna/Harris which is really stupid, yet twit did it , so a manger could easily attack that order with a lefty specialist. Moving Olson even to the 3 hole could work. Acuna/Ozzie/Olson/riley/Ozuna/Harris.. But I like having Ozzie splitting up some RHH.. but that could be argued and I would probably fold that hand.
zbhargrove
Well-known member
Lol... that's a huge difference
LOL. No, it's not. Let's compare Olson's career OPS platoon delta (.109) vs. other top LH power hitters.
Freeman: .143
Ohtani: .149
Soto: .164
And compared to the other LHH Braves, Harris is .143. Kelenic is .135.
From 2017-2023 the average platoon delta for LHH is .089, so Olson's difference is above average, but not "huge" by any stretch.
And to avoid a LHP knocking off two LHH in the late innings, all that has to happen is that Olson and Harris need to be separated by two hitters in the lineups, and have Duvall ready to hit for Kelenic. Each pitcher now has to face a minimum of three batters, and if a LHP is brought in to face Olson (who is still a .790 OPS hitter vs. LHP) he also has to face two of Albies, Riley, Ozuna, Arcia or D'Arnaud, all of whom hit LHP better than RHP.
As long as you put Albies and Olson back-to-back in the order the manager likely has to pick between Albies or Olson batting with a large platoon advantage.
Going Acuna/Olson/Albies would do that. Follow that with Ozuna/Riley/Harris/catcher does something very similar in the middle.
bravesfanMatt
Steve Harvey'd
I would be curious to know what Olson's splits are against LH relievers, which tend to be more lefty specialists. I just don't think any of the sites break out LH relievers from starters.