Don't call Matt Olson a slugger: Braves star studied his swing to become one of MLB's most complete hitters

The 32-year-old Olson, slashing .293/.379/.653 a quarter of the way through the 2026 season, has eliminated holes from his swing
Matt Olson spent his baseball career trying to erase the slugger identity attached to his name.

"I always remember seeing a video of Ken Griffey Jr., and he said, 'I'm not a power hitter.

I'm a hitter with power.' Obviously, I think you want to become a better [complete] hitter," Olson said during a phone interview this week.

Matt Olson's 2026 stats through 39 games
What Olson cares about, though, is the swing.

Getting from point A to point B in a timely manner.

It's a swing that can prove arduous, "a gift and curse," Olson called it, considering his tall stature.

While it yielded power, it also yielded holes.

But in 2026, many of those holes disappeared.

His contact rate climbed to 79%, the highest mark of his career, while his swinging-strike rate dropped to 9%, also a career best.

"I just call it the recall," Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers said.

"He understands how teams pitch him.

Or even the flow of the game.

He's playing chess, and some other guys are playing checkers, as far as the strategy.

But it's not that you're just looking for things in game planning, but also you have to have the confidence and go out there and do it and the courage to do it."
Olson always approached hitting like a student.

Learning long remained embedded in his background.

His mother, Lee, is an elementary school teacher.

His brother, Zach, played baseball at Harvard.

Olson himself committed to Vanderbilt before the Athletics selected him in the first round of the 2012 MLB Draft.

So when Olson feels his swing drifting or believes there's another layer of his game left to unlock, his instinct is to study it.

This offseason, Olson essentially went back to school.

The timing became inconsistent.

He found himself getting underneath high fastballs, while breaking balls caused him to lose direction toward the baseball.

"I've spent a lot of time in my career trying to fix my swing path when things are going wrong," Olson said.

"And I think just the more at-bats and more reps I get, the more I've started to realize that a lot of it is a product of that body position."
That realization landed Olson here.

Not just as a slugger, but as a far more complete hitter than the one who first arrived in Oakland with towering raw power and noticeable swing-and-miss.

"It is special and just a smooth swing," Hyers said.

"He's got long levers and a big body, but it's very smooth.

He controls his body really well to be a big guy.

I think that's the part that gives him an advantage because he organizes his body really well, and it's very smooth."
Olson and the Braves have the second-best record in baseball at 26-13 despite injuries throughout their starting rotation.

With Ronald Acuña Jr.

and Austin Riley both opening the season slowly, much of the offensive burden shifted toward Olson.

For years, Olson was defined primarily by his power.

Now, he's becoming the hitter he always knew he could become.

The power is still ever-present.

The holes aren't.