‘I’m going to be proud’: Olson sets power record

HOUSTON — Matt Olson logged fewer than a fourth of his plate appearances against left-handed pitchers as a rookie in 2017. The A's will use platoons — and did at first with an unproven lefthanded hitting first baseman. Olson hit .196 in limited looks against lefties that season. It serves to underscore his surge this year.

Olson drove a 1-1 fastball from Astros left-hander Framber Valdez for a 418-foot home run in the sixth inning of Oakland's 8-6 win Friday. It was the 39th homer of the season for Olson and his 22nd against a left-handed pitcher.

It gives Olson the most homers in a season against lefties by a left-handed hitter since at least 1961, the start of the expansion era. Olson passed Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr., who each had seasons with 21. Cecil Fielder and Dick Allen, right-handed hitters, each hit 25 homers in a season against lefties.

“That's something that I'm going to be proud of,” Olson said Friday night. “I was a guy who wasn't able to get in the lineup against lefties when I first came up, and I think just annoyed (manager Bob Melvin) enough to get me in there.”

Olson became an everyday player in 2018 and hit .251 against left-handers that year but with just four home runs in 211 plate appearances. Before this season, Olson had a .229 career average against lefties, struck out 25% of the time and totaled 22 homers in 500 plate appearances.

Olson began Saturday slashing .267/.352/.606 this season against left-handed pitching. He trimmed his strikeout rate to 18% against them and had 22 homers in 253 plate appearances — nearly double his previous rate.

“If you're asking if I've changed anything up this year, no, it's been my same approach,” Olson said. “Like I've said, there are times where you feel better off against lefties than you do righties, and there are times where you feel the opposite. And I guess I'm doing a little more damage off lefties this year. But, yeah, I don't look too far into left versus right.”

Olson reiterated a point Friday that facing left-handed pitching is not new to him — it's platoon strategy that's often introduced only at higher levels.

“If I didn't necessarily have some kind of immediate success against lefties when I got the opportunity, who knows if I would be in this spot now,” Olson said. “Like I've said, it's something I don't really put too much weight into, the lefty vs. righty. Everybody grew up and everybody hit (against) both sides. Nobody was platooning in Little League and high school. So, that's one that I'm going to be proud of.”

The numbers against lefties have buoyed Olson's career year. His .958 OPS against lefties sits above his .891 mark against righties and is sixth highest among AL hitters. The Angels' Shohei Ohtani is the lone left-handed AL hitter with a higher one (.973). Overall, Olson ranked fourth in the AL in OPS (.918), fourth in RBIs (111) and tied for fifth in home runs (39) entering Saturday.

“That's quite the feather in your hat to be able to say you hit more home runs off lefthanded pitching as a lefthanded hitter than anyone in the game,” Melvin said. “And the two guys he passed were legends.”