Matt Olson has hella competition for an AL first baseman All-Star spot

Matt Olson hit another Oly bomb on Saturday, sending one to the bullpens at Coors Field — the site of this year’s All-Star Game — over a tall fence in right center.

In the process, he showed why he has been the team’s top dog at the plate so far this season. 

After this dinger, Oly leads A’s in:

– AVG (.280)
– HR (15)
– RBI (40)
– SLG (.589)
– OPS (.953)pic.twitter.com/UvX3FcmDpd

— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) June 6, 2021

But where does he stack up against the crowded American League field of All-Star candidates? Olson definitely has some competition. 

Check out the top AL candidates ranked by OPS:

If WAR and wRC+ is more your speed, check out the Fangraphs leaders here:

All-Star rosters tend to be fluid from year-to-year, as two to four first baseman made AL or NL squads in 2018 and 2019.

Vlad Guerrero Jr. is a lock. Dude is absolutely destroying the ball and looks poised to make a run at the AL triple crown.

Olson has the next highest OPS among this quintet but Jose Abreu, the reigning AL MVP, has the star power and gravitas. He could get into the midsummer classic with his name and any somewhat acceptable numbers.

The AL West is stacked at the position. Jared Walsh has been quietly mashing all season long and Yuli Gurriel’s combination of average and walk-to-strikeout ratio is eye-popping. Trey Mancini is baseball’s best comeback story for the Orioles after his bout with colon cancer.

That’s a loaded field of candidates, but Olson has been the A’s best player and could be the only one in Oakland with the numbers to be an All-Star this year.

To the naked eye, Olson seems like he has played fine defense to me, but the metrics say otherwise. His minus-3 defensive runs saved (DRS) and minus-1.9 ultimate zone rating (UZR) actually rank fourth-worst in baseball, according to Fangraphs. But, hey, All-Star game ain’t about defense, and Olson still carries a Gold Glove reputation. 

If the A’s remain in first place heading into the break and Olson keeps putting up these offensive numbers, he’d have a strong argument to be the first A’s All-Star first baseman since Yonder Alonso in 2017.

Other Oakland A’s first basemen to make the All-Star team include Jason Giambi (2000-01), Mark McGwire (1987-92, 1995-97) and Gene Tenace (1975).