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Atlanta Braves: Changes need to be made with Nick Markakis and Ozzie Albies

By Jake Mastroianni

ATLANTA, GA - MAY 20: Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves is congratulated by Nick Markakis #22 after Albies scored in the ninth inning during the game against the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on May 20, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - MAY 20: Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves is congratulated by Nick Markakis #22 after Albies scored in the ninth inning during the game against the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on May 20, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 08: Nick  Markakis #22 of the Atlanta Braves fields the ball dropped in between him and Ozzie  Albies #1 on a two run RBI single by David Freese #25 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning of Game Four of the National League Division Series at Turner Field on October 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 08: Nick  Markakis #22 of the Atlanta Braves fields the ball dropped in between him and Ozzie  Albies #1 on a two run RBI single by David Freese #25 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning of Game Four of the National League Division Series at Turner Field on October 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

We look at the splits of Nick Markakis and Ozzie Albies to see if maybe they both need to be platoon players for the Atlanta Braves in 2019.

The Atlanta Braves are 65 games into the season (at the time of writing this article), and at this point, we have a very good feel of where each hitter is at in 2019.

Obviously, there are opportunities for players and hitters to adjust during the season, but for the most part, we know how players like Nick Markakis and Ozzie Albies are going to perform through the rest of this year.

When the 2019 season began, we instantly thought re-signing Nick Markakis was a steal — and it was — and we thought Ozzie Albies had finally mastered hitting from the left side.

Through the first two months of the season, Nick Markakis was hitting. 330 and looked much like the Markakis we saw at the beginning of the 2018 season.

But since then he’s hitting just .208 and looks like the Markakis that we saw at the end of the 2018 season.

What’s interesting about Markakis, is that he’s still played in every game this year, even though management said they would give him more of a break this season.

He didn’t start in five of those games, but still, let the man get a complete day off every now and then.

As for Ozzie, he started the season on fire hitting both from the left and right side of the plate. He hit .289 in March and April, but since then is hitting just .244.

Like Nick, Ozzie has also played in every game this year, and he’s started all but two of those games.

I know it’s easy to plug him in every day when he’s a switch-hitter, but I can’t understand why he hasn’t had more days off with how poorly he’s swung the bat at times.

Let’s look at the possibility of these two guys being used differently in the second half of the season.

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