<img alt="MLB: JUN 09 Braves at Nationals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pdaji5qF7C1X1DKo92tv1Ln7htU=/0x50:3900x2650/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73403263/2156458326.0.jpg">
Marcell Ozuna has been one of baseball’s best offensive performers in 2024. | Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Despite the struggles the Atlanta Braves have had offensively throughout the 2024 season, Marcell Ozuna has been putting up numbers that should have him in the Hank Aaron and MVP conversation. With a week left until the official start of Summer, the Atlanta Braves have been in inverse mode, offensively, for the last eight weeks of the 2024 season. Returning the majority of players who led the 2023 incarnation of the Braves to one of the best offensive seasons in the history of the game, the collective offense has fallen swiftly, and unexpectedly, back to earth like Icarus flying too close to the sun.
Everyone except Marcell Ozuna, that is.
It isn’t hyperbole to say that Marcell Ozuna - if he continues his current offensive output for the remainder of the season - is an MVP candidate. His play this season is a continuation of the last three-quarters of 2023 when he transformed from one of the worst offensive performers in the league to a down-ballot NL MVP vote-getter behind his first 40 home run season.
As an aside, it really is too bad that MLB hasn’t done a better job positioning the Hank Aaron Award. The award for the best offensive performance in each league should be on par with the Cy Young Award, but 25 years after it was begin being awarded, it is often an afterthought of awards season.
If the Braves continue to struggle and miss the playoffs - or barely squeak in as a Wild Card - that will add to the likelihood that Ozuna won’t have a chance at the NL MVP. Being a full-time DH is a demerit in the eyes of many voters, so Ozuna is fighting an uphill battle, regardless of the team’s regular season outcome.
But my goodness at the campaign Ozuna is putting together in 2024.
Through June 11, 2024, Ozuna is leading the NL in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+.
He also leads the senor circuit in wRC+, wOBA and wRAA.
If that isn’t enough, he’s also leading the NL in xwOBA and xSLG.
Regardless of your preferred source of data, feelings on analytics or thoughts on traditional stats, they all agree that if the season ended today, Marcell Ozuna has had one of, if not the best, 64-games offensive output in the National League in 2024.
What makes Ozuna’s output that much more impactful is, if you look at Fangraph’s wRC+ leaderboard for the National League, Marcell Ozuna is the only Braves player in the top 30.
Sitting behind his 177 wRC+ in the top 10 are five Dodgers, two Padres, one Phillie (Bryce Harper) and a Brewer (William Contreras). Harper has two teammates in the top 20 and Contreras has two in the top 30. Ozuna’s top teammate is Matt Olson at 33 with Ozzie Albies at 51. Ronald Acuna, Jr., despite not having played for several weeks after a season-ended injury is still at 36.
Ozuna’s Baseball Savant page for MLB Percentile Rankings is a sight to behold. As seen below, he has been great in eight different categories, a visual representation of the magnitude of his offensive superiority.
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ojxNn3ftZlFzwdTDh9fOtB1C_mI=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25488230/Screenshot_2024_06_12_081916.png">
In the American League, New York Yankees teammates Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have been the two best offensive players in the game. In the National League, fellow DH Shohei Otani has put together an offensive profile that is neck-in-neck with Ozuna’s numbers.
But Otani has had four other Los Angeles Dodgers cohorts put together phenomenal offensive seasons. That isn’t to diminish Ohtnai’s season; but Ozuna putting together comparable or better numbers despite the struggles of most of the other Braves regulars adds to the praise of Ozuna’s output.
With just under 100 games to go in the regular season, a lot can happen - and for the Braves that means there is still plenty of time for what has become Ozuna’s supporting cast to turnaround their season and get back to a level of performance that more closely resembles the back of their proverbial baseball cards.
Ozuna finished sixth in the NL in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, winning the Silver Slugger, and leading the NL in home runs, RBI and total bases. Although he’s played in four more games this season vs. the ‘20 season, he’s had an almost identical number of plate appearances, and his 2024 numbers are a near facsimile to that season.
In a disappointing season, so far, for the Braves it has been Ozuna who has been the shining light - the one constant offensive performer.
While regression is always a possibility, for the Braves to stay in the Wild Card race, they will need the Big Bear to continue to carry much of the offensive load. If he does, he’ll have a strong case for the NL MVP Award - and the Hank Aaron Award.
(And he should be batting second in the Braves line-up. But that’s a different story.)
<img alt="MLB: JUN 09 Braves at Nationals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pdaji5qF7C1X1DKo92tv1Ln7htU=/0x50:3900x2650/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73403263/2156458326.0.jpg">
Marcell Ozuna has been one of baseball’s best offensive performers in 2024. | Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Despite the struggles the Atlanta Braves have had offensively throughout the 2024 season, Marcell Ozuna has been putting up numbers that should have him in the Hank Aaron and MVP conversation. With a week left until the official start of Summer, the Atlanta Braves have been in inverse mode, offensively, for the last eight weeks of the 2024 season. Returning the majority of players who led the 2023 incarnation of the Braves to one of the best offensive seasons in the history of the game, the collective offense has fallen swiftly, and unexpectedly, back to earth like Icarus flying too close to the sun.
Everyone except Marcell Ozuna, that is.
It isn’t hyperbole to say that Marcell Ozuna - if he continues his current offensive output for the remainder of the season - is an MVP candidate. His play this season is a continuation of the last three-quarters of 2023 when he transformed from one of the worst offensive performers in the league to a down-ballot NL MVP vote-getter behind his first 40 home run season.
As an aside, it really is too bad that MLB hasn’t done a better job positioning the Hank Aaron Award. The award for the best offensive performance in each league should be on par with the Cy Young Award, but 25 years after it was begin being awarded, it is often an afterthought of awards season.
If the Braves continue to struggle and miss the playoffs - or barely squeak in as a Wild Card - that will add to the likelihood that Ozuna won’t have a chance at the NL MVP. Being a full-time DH is a demerit in the eyes of many voters, so Ozuna is fighting an uphill battle, regardless of the team’s regular season outcome.
But my goodness at the campaign Ozuna is putting together in 2024.
Through June 11, 2024, Ozuna is leading the NL in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+.
He also leads the senor circuit in wRC+, wOBA and wRAA.
If that isn’t enough, he’s also leading the NL in xwOBA and xSLG.
Regardless of your preferred source of data, feelings on analytics or thoughts on traditional stats, they all agree that if the season ended today, Marcell Ozuna has had one of, if not the best, 64-games offensive output in the National League in 2024.
What makes Ozuna’s output that much more impactful is, if you look at Fangraph’s wRC+ leaderboard for the National League, Marcell Ozuna is the only Braves player in the top 30.
Sitting behind his 177 wRC+ in the top 10 are five Dodgers, two Padres, one Phillie (Bryce Harper) and a Brewer (William Contreras). Harper has two teammates in the top 20 and Contreras has two in the top 30. Ozuna’s top teammate is Matt Olson at 33 with Ozzie Albies at 51. Ronald Acuna, Jr., despite not having played for several weeks after a season-ended injury is still at 36.
Ozuna’s Baseball Savant page for MLB Percentile Rankings is a sight to behold. As seen below, he has been great in eight different categories, a visual representation of the magnitude of his offensive superiority.
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ojxNn3ftZlFzwdTDh9fOtB1C_mI=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25488230/Screenshot_2024_06_12_081916.png">
In the American League, New York Yankees teammates Aaron Judge and Juan Soto have been the two best offensive players in the game. In the National League, fellow DH Shohei Otani has put together an offensive profile that is neck-in-neck with Ozuna’s numbers.
But Otani has had four other Los Angeles Dodgers cohorts put together phenomenal offensive seasons. That isn’t to diminish Ohtnai’s season; but Ozuna putting together comparable or better numbers despite the struggles of most of the other Braves regulars adds to the praise of Ozuna’s output.
With just under 100 games to go in the regular season, a lot can happen - and for the Braves that means there is still plenty of time for what has become Ozuna’s supporting cast to turnaround their season and get back to a level of performance that more closely resembles the back of their proverbial baseball cards.
Ozuna finished sixth in the NL in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, winning the Silver Slugger, and leading the NL in home runs, RBI and total bases. Although he’s played in four more games this season vs. the ‘20 season, he’s had an almost identical number of plate appearances, and his 2024 numbers are a near facsimile to that season.
In a disappointing season, so far, for the Braves it has been Ozuna who has been the shining light - the one constant offensive performer.
While regression is always a possibility, for the Braves to stay in the Wild Card race, they will need the Big Bear to continue to carry much of the offensive load. If he does, he’ll have a strong case for the NL MVP Award - and the Hank Aaron Award.
(And he should be batting second in the Braves line-up. But that’s a different story.)
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