The Best First Baseman In Baseball Resides In Atlanta

The Atlanta Braves are no strangers to star power at first base. Back in the early 1970s, it was Orlando Cepeda. In the 1990s, Fred McGriff took over. He was followed by names like Andrés Galarraga, Julio Franco, and briefly Mark Teixeira in the early 2000s. Then came a franchise icon, Freddie Freeman.

Freeman became a staple at first base across 12 seasons in Atlanta. During that stretch, he earned five All-Star selections, three Silver Slugger awards, a Gold Glove, an MVP Award, and helped bring the Braves a World Series title in 2021. Without diving too deep into it, his departure before the 2022 season hit Braves Country hard. He was beloved in Atlanta and should be viewed as a franchise legend.

Replacing a player like Freeman is not supposed to be easy. Yet, Alex Anthopoulos somehow found the perfect answer, acquiring Georgia native Matt Olson from the Athletics. Over the last five seasons, Olson has gone toe to toe with Freeman while building a case as one of baseball’s elite first basemen.

Stats were taken prior to play on May 28.

Building His Resume

Matt Olson was already a Georgia baseball legend before he ever reached the majors. A standout at Parkview High School, Olson committed to Vanderbilt before ultimately choosing professional baseball after being selected in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the Athletics.

Across five seasons with the Athletics, Olson ranked inside the top ten among qualified first basemen in slugging percentage (.511), wRC+ (132), home runs (142), hard-hit rate (49.4%), and fWAR (14.2).

Once traded to Atlanta, his first season felt relatively quite by Olson’s standards. He posted a 3.1 fWAR season with an .802 OPS and 121 wRC+. Then came 2023, where he exploded for career highs with 139 RBIs, 54 home runs, and a .604 slugging percentage while helping power one of the most historic offenses baseball has seen.

From 2022 through the 2025 season, Olson established himself as a top two first baseman in baseball right alongside Freddie Freeman.

Olson was named to two All-Star teams during that stretch and added both a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove to his resume. The most impressive part may not even be the production. It’s his availability, playing in all 162 games in each of those four seasons.

Through the first 56 games of the 2026 season, Olson has not slowed down. He is slashing .259/.341/.546 with an .888 OPS, a 145 wRC+, and he already sits at 2.3 fWAR. Digging deeper, the underlying metrics fully support the production. Olson ranks in the 90th-percentile or better in expected slugging percentage, average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate.

There is not a single pitch type this season against which Olson owns a negative run value. He has produced at least a .250 average, .500 slugging percentage, and .850 OPS against both right-handed and left-handed pitching, though his numbers against righties are stronger as expected.

Defensively, Olson ranks eighth across all of the MLB with +7 OAA. Among first basemen, the next highest is Michael Busch with +4 OAA.

Whether at the dish or in the field, Olson continues to produce at an elite level and shows little sign of slowing down.

Top Five First Basemen In Baseball

Nearly a third of the way through the 2026 season, the first base position has been loaded with production. 11 first basemen already have double digit home runs; 19 own a wRC+ north of 120; and 19 players are carrying an OPS above .800.

Still, small sample sizes can distort reality. To get a better picture of where Olson truly stands, let’s zoom out and compare the bigger picture.

Using the 2023 through 2025 seasons, the top five first basemen in baseball by fWAR are Freddie Freeman (15.5), Matt Olson (13.9), Bryce Harper (12.0), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (10.4), and Yandy Díaz (9.8).

The first thing that jumps out is the noticeable decline in offensive production after 2023 across almost everyone except Guerrero. That is understandable considering how absurd offense looked around baseball that season, and it would be unrealistic to expect players to sustain those numbers.

Even with that context though, Olson led the group in two of the three major categories over that stretch.

While Guerrero Jr. rebounded from a disappointing 2023 season, the other four saw declines. None felt more dramatic than Olson’s. In 2024, his OPS dropped 203 points, his wRC+ fell by 45 points, and his fWAR dipped by 3.9. Only Díaz saw a steeper decline.

Then in 2025, Olson climbed right back toward the top. His .850 OPS and 136 wRC+ barely trailed Freeman, while Olson paced the entire group with a 4.7 fWAR, sitting 0.8 ahead of the next closest player.

If you normalize each category into rankings against one another, Olson would come out as the second-best first baseman from 2023 through 2025, behind Freddie Freeman.

So, why am I giving him the crown?

Why Olson Tops The List

When deciding who is the best player in baseball at a position, I think future outlook matters too. What have you done recently? But also, what are you likely to do next?

Freeman turns 37 years old in September. While he remains one of my personal favorite Braves players from my era, signs of decline have started to show.

It’s been a step back this season in several offensive categories, including batting average, slugging percentage, and weighted on base average. I still think Freeman bounces back to an extent because great hitters usually adjust, but at this stage he is no longer in his peak years.

Olson, meanwhile, turned 32 just last month and still sits right in the middle of his prime years. This season, he has produced a .259/.341/.546 slash line with an .888 OPS and a 145 wRC+.

With that in mind, I wanted to compare Olson to some of baseball’s younger or newer emerging first basemen dating back to the beginning of the 2025 season.

Nick Kurtz, last season’s American League Rookie of the Year, has looked like an absolute monster since arriving. In the coming years, I believe he will become baseball’s top first baseman.

Ben Rice just continues to hit, Michael Busch has quietly become one of the Cubs’ most underrated acquisitions, and Japanese star Munetaka Murakami currently ranks second in MLB with 20 home runs.

Still, the crown belongs to Olson because of the complete package.

He appears headed toward a second straight Gold Glove while remaining near the top among qualified first basemen in categories like hits, home runs, exit velocity, OPS, and wRC+. His 2.3 fWAR leads the group, followed closely by Rice at 2.2 and Kurtz and Murakami at 2.0.

Even during a recent slump, Olson continues to make the case that he remains the best all-around first baseman in baseball.

Career Projections and Milestones

Stepping away from 2026 for a moment, it is worth looking ahead at what Olson could accomplish over the next several years. With his contract running through the 2030 season, Atlanta has him under control through age 36.

Starting with the Iron Man streak, Olson will just not come close to reaching Cal Ripken Jr.’s untouchable mark of 2,632 consecutive games played. That is just the facts. Still, Olson currently sits at 837 straight games played, good for ninth all-time.

If he keeps up his recent pace, Stan Musial at 895 games is next. Joe Sewell at 1,103, Billy Williams at 1,117, and Miguel Tejada at 1,152 are all within striking distance as well. Regardless of where the streak eventually ends, Olson is already putting himself into elite company.

Olson also currently sits at 1,211 career hits. Assuming he averages roughly 150 hits per season from 2026 through 2030, he would sit just shy of 1,800 career hits. There have been a total of 298 players to reach the 2,000 hit milestone, so while it may not be such an exclusive list, its a meaningful one. It would add another significant piece to a growing Hall of Fame case.

Read more

MLB

Bryce Elder Is Proving His Doubters Wrong

MLB

Is Chris Sale Doing Enough To Reach Cooperstown?

The home run numbers become even more interesting. Olson currently sits at 303 career home runs. Only 167 players in MLB history have ever reached 300. The 400 home run club becomes far more exclusive with only 59 members. Given Olson’s production in Atlanta and his current pace, he looks well positioned to eventually join that list by the end of his current contract.

Supporting the counting numbers are elite underlying metrics. Among all first basemen in history, Olson ranks 46th with a 134 wRC+, 12th with a .253 ISO, seventh with a 13.8% barrel rate, second with a 50.7% hard-hit rate, and second with a 92.7 mph average exit velocity.

Freddie Freeman, Bryce Harper, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Nick Kurtz may grab much of the attention, but Matt Olson continues building a case of his own. And right now, that case says the best first baseman in baseball resides in Atlanta.