• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

San Francisco Sports Today

San Francisco Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Baseball
    • A’s
    • Giants
  • Football
    • 49’ers
    • Raiders
  • Basketball
    • Kings
    • Warriers
  • Sharks
  • Earthquakes
  • Colleges
    • San Jose State
    • Stanford
    • University of California, Berkeley

Matt Olson places 8th in 2021 MVP voting

November 19, 2021 by Athletics Nation

MLB: SEP 17 Athletics at Angels
Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

First baseman had a great season on both sides of the ball

Oly Toledo!

The 2021 MVP Awards were announced on Thursday, and one Oakland A’s player showed up in the American League voting. First baseman Matt Olson finished in eighth place, after a career year in which he established himself as one of the premier hitters in the sport to go along with his already renowned defense.

The award is decided by 30 voters, each of whom choose 10 players ranked from first through 10th. Olson was named on 24 of the 30 ballots, including two 4th-place nods, two 5ths, one 6th, nine 7ths, five 8ths, three 9ths, and two 10ths. The pair of fourth-place votes came from local insider Martin Gallegos, and Mariners writer Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times.

The AL winner was Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, in a unanimous decision. That was no surprise after his unprecedented performance, in which he blasted 46 homers as the best hitter in the league and tossed 130 sparkling innings as a starting pitcher. In the NL, Bryce Harper of the Phillies won a tight race in which five different players received first-place votes.

AL voting

  1. DH/P Shohei Ohtani, LAA (420 points, 30 firsts)
  2. 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr, TOR (269 points)
  3. 2B Marcus Semien, TOR (232 points)
  4. OF Aaron Judge, NYY (171 points)
  5. SS Carlos Correa, HOU (163 points)
  6. 3B Jose Ramirez, CLE (133 points)
  7. C Salvador Perez, KCR (103 points)
  8. 1B Matt Olson, OAK (90 points)
  9. OF Cedric Mullins, BAL (87 points)
  10. 2B Brandon Lowe, TBR (34 points)
  11. … plus 13 other players got votes

NL voting

  1. RF Bryce Harper, PHI (348 points, 17 firsts)
  2. RF Juan Soto, WAS (274 points, 6 firsts)
  3. SS Fernando Tatis Jr, SDP (244 points, 2 firsts)
  4. SS Brandon Crawford, SFG (213 points, 4 firsts)
  5. SS Trea Turner, WAS/LAD (185 points, 1 first)
  6. … plus 18 other players got votes

This is the second time that Olson has gotten MVP votes, but by far his highest finish. In 2019 he landed in 21st place, showing up on one ballot in the 10th slot. He fared much better this year, after posting his best season yet on the field.

The lefty slugger set career-highs in homers, doubles, OBP, batting average, RBI, and runs, as well as both bWAR (5.8) and fWAR (5.0), but most importantly he slashed his strikeout rate beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. His consistently great production made him the anchor of the A’s lineup and a finalist for the Silver Slugger (won by Guerrero), and on defense he was a finalist for the Gold Glove but was snubbed for that hardware.

  • Olson: .271/.371/.540, 146 wRC+, 39 HR, 13.1% BB, 16.8% Ks

While he narrowly missed the 40-homer milestone, he did set a franchise record in the power department by hitting 22 of his dingers against lefty pitchers.

Making Olson’s success even sweeter is that he was coming off a down year in the shortened 2020 season, in which he batted .195 with a 31% strikeout rate. He bounced back in a big way this summer, in no small part because he chopped that K-rate almost in half. Amid his hot start in late-April, I wrote the following about his strikeouts:

I’m not saying he’ll finish the year at 16.7%, I’m saying that if he does then he’s in the MVP conversation.

He finished at 16.8%, and well within the MVP conversation, though it turned out you also had to pitch in order to win the award this year. Placing in the Top 10 is quite an accomplishment, and a fine recognition of Olson’s excellent season — in order to rank higher, he would have needed another handful of dingers (45 at least) and/or the A’s would have needed to make the playoffs.

Perhaps there is an argument that Olson could have finished seventh, above Salvador Perez. The Royals catcher led the majors with a whopping 48 homers, but his team lost 88 games and Olson was still a more productive hitter overall. However, Perez had a great season too, and quantifying catcher defense is difficult, and quibbling between 7th/8th for MVP isn’t worth the time or thought.

Congrats to Olson on a well-deserved Top 10 finish!

A’s MVP history

Here’s the team’s recent history in MVP voting, going back a couple decades. The last time an A’s player finished eighth place or higher was 2019, with Marcus Semien (3rd) and Matt Chapman (6th):

  • 1999: Giambi (8), Stairs (17), Jaha (18)
  • 2000: Giambi (1), Hudson (15), Tejada (16)
  • 2001: Giambi (2), Mulder (13), Tejada (19), Zito (21)
  • 2002: Tejada (1), Zito (13), Chavez (14), Koch (18)
  • 2003: Tejada (11), Foulke (15), Chavez (17)
  • 2004: Kotsay (14), Durazo (23), Chavez (30)
  • 2005: Chavez (21), Street (23)
  • 2006: Thomas (4)
  • 2007: —
  • 2008: —
  • 2009: —
  • 2010: —
  • 2011: —
  • 2012: Cespedes (10), Reddick (16)
  • 2013: Donaldson (4), Coco (15)
  • 2014: Donaldson (8)
  • 2015: —
  • 2016: —
  • 2017: Khrush (22)
  • 2018: Chapman (7), Khrush (8), Treinen (15), Lowrie (20)
  • 2019: Semien (3), Chapman (6), Olson (21)
  • 2020: Hendriks (13)
  • 2021: Olson (8th)

Other past Oakland winners include Vida Blue (1971), Reggie Jackson (1973), Jose Canseco (1988), Rickey Henderson (1990), and Dennis Eckersley (1992).

Filed Under: A's

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Sharks Sign Dmitry Orlov, Claim Nick Leddy
  • The 49ers have 17 players listed as the best draft pick ever at their draft slot
  • Elephant Rumblings: Gelof set to return as Urias injured
  • Nick Kurtz: Congratulations On Being June’s Rookie Of The Month, But Also…
  • Giants snap losing streak by weathering late comeback

Categories

  • 49'ers
  • A's
  • Earthquakes
  • Giants
  • Kings
  • Raiders
  • San Jose State
  • Sharks
  • Stanford
  • Uncategorized
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Warriers

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021

Our Partners

All Sports

  • San Francisco Chronicle
  • San Francisco Examiner
  • The Mercury News
  • 247 Sports
  • Bleacher Report
  • Forgotten 5
  • Golden Gate Sports
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • The Spun
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • San Francisco Giants
  • Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - Oakland A's
  • Last Word On Baseball - San Francisco Giants
  • MLB Trade Rumors - A's
  • MLB Trade Rumors - Giants
  • White Cleat Beat
  • Around The Foghorn
  • Athletics Nation
  • McCovey Chronicles

Basketball

  • Golden State Warriors
  • Sacramento Kings
  • A Royal Pain
  • Amico Hoops - Kings
  • Amico Hoops - Warriors
  • Blue Man Hoop
  • Golden State Of Mind
  • Hoops Hype - Warriors
  • Hoops Hype - Kings
  • Hoops Rumors - Warriors
  • Hoops Rumors - Kings
  • Lets Go Warriors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Golden State
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball - Sacramento
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Warriors
  • Pro Basketball Talk - Kings
  • Real GM - Warriors
  • Real GM - Kings
  • Sactown Royalty

Football

  • San Francisco 49ers
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • 49ers Gab
  • Just Blog Baby
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors - San Francisco 49ers
  • NFL Trade Rumors - Las Vegas Raiders
  • Niners Nation
  • Niner Noise
  • Niners Wire
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors - 49ers
  • Pro Football Rumors - Raiders
  • Pro Football Talk - 49ers
  • Pro Football Talk - Raiders
  • Raiders Wire
  • Silver And Black Pride
  • Total 49ers

Hockey

  • Blades Of Teal
  • Fear The Fin
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Center Line Soccer
  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • Busting Brackets
  • California Golden Blogs
  • College Sports Madness
  • College Football News
  • Rule Of Tree
  • Saturday Blitz
  • The Daily Californian
  • The Stanford Daily
  • Zags Blog

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in