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Athletics' Olson joins elite rookie company with 21st HR

Stan Szeto / USA TODAY Sports

While the Oakland Athletics have been eliminated from postseason contention, that hasn't stopped rookie first baseman/outfielder Matt Olson from putting on a show.

The 23-year-old Olson clubbed his 21st home run Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies, tying a relatively obscure record for dingers by a rookie in a season of 80 games or fewer.

Player HR Year Team Age Games
Kevin Maas 21 1990 Yankees 21 79
Matt Olson 21 2017 Athletics 23 53
Gary Sanchez 20 2016 Yankees 23 53
George Springer 20 2014 Astros 24 78
Justin Morneau 19 2004 Twins 23 74
Adam Dunn 19 2001 Reds 21 66

(Statistics courtesy: Baseball-Reference)

It's an impressive company of players who were brilliant, but not for long enough to capture a rookie of the year award. To their credit, Kevin Maas and Gary Sanchez came close by finishing second in their respective seasons.

With the existence of Aaron Judge and his extremely probable rookie-of-the-year victory, Olson is likely to continue the trend of not winning, though the Athletics rookie has 13 games remaining to surpass Maas.

Even more impressive though, is that one of Olson's Sunday opponents has a legitimate chance to meet him at the top of that stat sheet.

Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins has waved an unfathomably-hot bat in the first 37 games of his career, collecting 18 home runs with a .736 slugging percentage. Whether he can catch and surpass Olson is certainly a storyline to watch, as the rise of rookies has already been a captivating narrative of the 2017 season.

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