As Braves seek consistent offense, Matt Olson is starting to provide

In 14 games leading into Friday, Olson hit .280 with a .919 OPS. He’s homered three times over that stretch (50 at-bats) after doing so just once in his first 57 at-bats.

“We’ve had a lot better at-bats as a whole,” Olson said. “Maybe not the last couple of games (both 2-1 losses). But (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto was pretty good (Friday). We put up back-to-back 14-hit games in Colorado. We’re moving the line. Not just guys swinging for the fences. Not just guys hitting homers. We were playing good baseball (since) the last homestand. It feels like we’re trending in the right direction. Not the easiest to say after scoring one run (Friday), but sometimes that’s baseball. We still feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

It was encouraging for Olson to take Yates deep, too. The former Braves reliever had surrendered just four homers across his last 77 appearances (75-1/3 innings).

Olson has the ability to carry an offense. He has an .857 OPS over four seasons with the Braves, highlighted by his .993 mark in 2023 that included a franchise record 54 home runs. The Braves need Olson, third baseman Austin Riley (.786 OPS) and Marcell Ozuna (.907 OPS) to produce at an All-Star level for their offense to be its best, particularly with Ronald Acuña still sidelined.

“Instead of the individuals, I’m looking at the big picture and we’d love to get a bunch of them going again,” manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s the way this thing goes. There are peaks and valleys. At some point, we’re going to get everybody hitting on all cylinders and it’s going to be pretty good.”

The sooner the better: With Friday’s results, the Braves are already in a seven-game hole behind the Mets in the National League East. These types of early results can haunt a team later.