One Atlanta Brave has inexplicably tortured Phillies pitchers at Citizens Bank Park for years—Matt Olson.
That shouldn’t be news to anyone. A career 1.029 OPS for the lefty slugger has made him somewhat infamous in South Philly.
So tonight, fresh off dropping two of three to the Chicago Cubs, the Phillies are now two games under .500 & fourth best in the NL East. It’s early days, but as divisional play kicks off, this squad could use some momentum.
The Phillies' lucky tributes will be Taijuan Walker, Christopher Sánchez & rookie Andrew Painter, who are slated to pitch this weekend and tasked with solving the Olson problem.
With warm air rolling into Philadelphia, let’s start with the numbers.
Olson loves three ballparks: Citizens Bank Park, Truist Park & the Oakland Coliseum. Somewhat concerning, considering Olson has never played for the Phillies.
For his career, Olson has blasted 19 home runs & collected 41 RBIs at the Phillies' expense. 15 of those have come from the comfort of Citizens Bank Park.
The myth of Olson was born when he first visited Philadelphia with the Athletics in 2017. From September 15th to 17th, Olson homered in three consecutive games. The first came off Mark Leiter Jr., the second off Ben Lively & finally against Henderson Alvarez (that’s a name I’ve never heard of).
Those were dark days for the Phillies. Aaron Altherr was hitting cleanup to give you some context.
Worth noting, almost all of his success has come against Phillies starters. Andrew Bellatti & Andrew Vasquez are the only Phillies relievers to fall victim. Otherwise, it's been a collection of Zack Wheeler, Kyle Gibson, Michael Lorenzen, Aaron Nola, and Sanchez.
The point I’m trying to convey is that the pitcher is almost irrelevant. It’s the ballpark.
According to BaseballSavant.com, if Olson had spent his entire career playing in only Philadelphia, he would have added another full season of home runs (+39). At just seven home runs away from 300 for his career, you’d have to imagine the young man is chomping at the bit for 6:40 p.m.
Olson likes the ball middle-in and middle-down. Makes sense, optimal pull power for a lefty. He has the benefit of facing two right-handed pitchers this weekend in Walker & Painter.
Walker could see some trouble tonight. He lives in the middle-down sector of the strike zone, and while Olson’s yet to go long on him across 13 at-bats, his profile is exactly what Olson’s looking for.
Painter, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery box. He’s a talented pitcher, but the sample size is limited. He will need to veer away from that middle-in zone against the veteran. If Braves hitters are patient enough, we could be in for a repeat of his performance in San Francisco.
Although Sanchez has surrendered two dingers to Olson, I’m less worried about him. Chalk it up to a rough outing in the August heat.
Long story short, stop throwing inside on this guy. The scouting report should be to pound the outside of the zone. Force him to use the whole field. You might not get him out, but at least you keep him in the park. If he jacks one oppo taco, tip your cap.
And if you want to set him up with something uncomfortable, high inside, by all means, you have my blessing.
It almost feels hopeless. Death, taxes, and Matt Olson. Some things can’t be stopped.
Braves hitters aren’t unfamiliar with success at the Bank.
Olson’s current teammate, Austin Riley, has knocked 9 homers with an OPS of .977 across 43 games. Before him, Adam Duvall, although not a lifelong Brave, hammered eleven longballs with a monstrous OPS of 1.046. I’m not going to bother bringing Chipper Jones into this, who punished the Bank and Veterans’ Stadium equitably.
The more I write, the more it seems incomprehensible that the Phillies have seen more playoff success over the last 20 years (slight Braves burn).
