CINCINNATI — Help is on the way – though with the way this season has gone, you should probably hold your breath until it arrives.
Ozzie Albies on Tuesday joined Triple-A Gwinnett for what is expected to be a two-game rehab assignment. He led off and played second base for the Stripers, who are in Jacksonville, Florida.
“Hopefully we can get him back when we get to Miami,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said ahead of Tuesday’s series opener against the Reds. “Things are gonna have to go well, and he’s gonna have to feel good about it until then.”
It started well: Albies on Tuesday went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer and a walk. Albies, who’s batting right-handed as he returns, homered off a lefty.
Cross your fingers that it goes well on Wednesday. If it does, Albies will join the Braves Friday in Miami. Atlanta could soon have an offensive boost.
Albies will bat exclusively right-handed until his left-handed swing feels good. Albies has had more success from the right side in his career, and has featured more power, but it’s important to remember that he bats right-handed almost only against lefties.
Since his debut in 2017, Albies has only 15 big-league plate appearances against a right-handed pitcher when batting right-handed.
On Tuesday, Jacksonville started a left-hander. Fortunately, Jacksonville will throw a right-hander on Wednesday, so the Braves can see how Albies looks in righty-on-righty situations.
Still, his presence should be a plus for the Braves. They have struggled to score runs, and getting back Albies is something that, at the very least, gives them a chance to shake things up.
Braves’ situational hitting woes
Entering Tuesday, the Braves ranked 19th in MLB with a .248 batting average with runners in scoring position. Their .728 OPS in those spots was 21st.
The Braves were 24th in batting average with runners on base, at .246. Their .723 OPS in this category was 21st.
The Braves were batting .235 with the bases loaded – good for 20th. Their .675 OPS in those situations was the ninth-worst mark in the sport.
The Braves were hitting .272 when runners were in scoring position with less than two outs, which ranked 12th. But when there are two outs in those spots, their average dipped to .220, which was seventh-worst in baseball.
No doubt, injuries have impacted the Braves, but this has been a theme all season.
“It’s hard,” Snitker said of hitting in those spots. “We’ve been talking about it all year, really. We were talking about it before all the injury bugs started, really. But you know what, honestly, that’s not an excuse. We are what we are, we got our guys, and they’re all capable of doing the job. It’s just, I think, about not trying too hard and adjusting in some situations. You might have to come out of the box a little bit and out of your comfort zone a little bit to get the job done. And that’s what it takes, and that’s what we’ve gotta do.”
The Braves on Tuesday went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position in a loss to the Reds. They left 14 men on base.
Marcell Ozuna’s homerless run
Marcell Ozuna no longer is a legitimate candidate for a Triple Crown. He entered Tuesday trailing Shohei Ohtani by 10 home runs and 10 RBIs. Even if he drove in more runs than Ohtani, he would need at least 11 homers the rest of the way – and that’s if Ohtani didn’t homer again.
San Diego’s Luis Arraez entered Tuesday leading the NL with a .323 average, while Ozuna was at .302.
Ozuna’s last homer came Aug. 20. Between then and now, Ozuna has played in 26 games and taken 95 at-bats.
“I think (I) just kind of hope he goes back to just being himself,” Snitker said. “That’s probably a definition of a guy trying too hard and wanting to do too much. As we’ve kind of seen, we’re having trouble scoring runs, (but) I’d hate to think where we would be without him. We jumped on his back when things were going bad for five, six months here. Now, he’s probably feeling a little (like) he wants to be the guy. You’re just human, you want to do well, and probably in those situations a lot of times, you just try and do too much.”
Ozuna recently alluded to some fatigue. Everyone is tired at this time of year.
Snitker doesn’t think that’s anything out of the ordinary.
“I haven’t seen that,” Snitker said. “Everybody’s tired. It’s the end of September, we’ve been doing this for seven months. Everybody’s sore, everybody’s hurting, everybody’s tired – that’s part of the game. No, I think it’s probably more of a mental thing with him than anything. He’s so big and strong that I don’t know that he gets tired – he gets sleepy. He’s just gotta relax and trust himself. He’s a really good hitter. He’s obviously one of the best in the business. He’s just gotta go back to believing it.”
