Atlanta Braves Matt Olson Wins Fielding Bible Award at First Base

The Atlanta Braves first baseman stood out among all MLB first basemen in 2024 to take home the award

The Atlanta Braves first baseman is a Fielding Bible Award winner once again / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Atlanta Braves Matt Olson receives his latest honor for his defensive efforts at first base in 2024. He is the Fielding Bible Award winner at his position this season. 

It’s his fourth time winning the award and his first with the Braves. The highlight from the award-winning season was finishing as the league leader in defensive runs saved among first basemen. 

2024 Fielding Bible Awards

1B Winner - Matt Olson, @Braves

4th career Fielding Bible Award

Led all first basemen in Defensive Runs Saved pic.twitter.com/vVK0R4tnpG

— SIS_Baseball (@sis_baseball) October 24, 2024

Even with the “down” year at the plate, Olson continued to show his value through other tools. 

Olson is the fifth Braves player to be a recipient of the award and the first since Max Fried took it home in the pitcher’s category in 2020. He is the first Braves first baseman to win it. 

Since the creation of the Fielding Bible Award in 2006, an Atlanta Braves player has been a winner eight times, including Olson. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons has won it the most among Braves players as a three-winner (2013, 2014, 2015). Jason Hayward took home the award twice (2012, 2014), and fellow former Braves outfielder Andruw Jones won it in 2007. 

The Fielding Bible Award is presented by the sports analytics ground Sports Info Solutions. The winners of the award were voted on by 15 different writers, which were publicly tagged on X (formerly Twitter). 

Fielding Bible Awards winners announced Thursday, 2pm ET

Thanks to our voters @fieldingbible @PerezEd @DanielAlvarezEE @_Ben_Clemens @Pfeiffer86 @alysonfooter @tylerkepner @ladsonbill24 @StratOMatic @enosarris @Travis_Sawchik @Bobby_Scales @joe_sheehan @MarkASimonSays @DaniWex

— SIS_Baseball (@sis_baseball) October 22, 2024

Unlike the Gold Glove Award, which Olson is also a finalist for in the National League, this is an MLB-wide award. There is one winner at each position. 

While the award is given out by a stats-driven organization, they judge the award on more than just numbers. As they put it on their website, “It's also about observing players in action and understanding what goes into playing good defense.”

Olson stood out to them based on that criteria. 

He also finished with a .996 fielding percentage, committing just six errors across 162 games played.