Braves: Ozzie Albies close to becoming best second baseman in baseball
What separates Ozzie
More from Tomahawk Take
- Braves News: Braves add multiple new players, Max Fried extension?, more
- Ronald Acuña Jr Donates Venezuelan League Salary to Charity
- Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 21-25
- Braves News: Braves Acquire Hoy Park
- Braves Sign Ehire Adrianza, Mitchell Tolman to Minor League Deals
Going forward, I believe Ozzie has the chance to become the best second baseman in all of baseball because of what he does at the plate and in the field.
He’s already made an All-Star Game appearance and won a Silver Slugger in his first two full seasons.
Although, if I’m being honest and unbiased, I don’t know how in the world he won the Silver Slugger at second base over Marte. But we’ll take it!
And Ozzie was a finalist for the Gold Glove award at second base and that is where I thought the Braves second baseman got a raw deal.
I know Kolten Wong makes some amazing plays, but anybody who watches Ozzie on a nightly basis knows how effortless he makes it look.
His 162 game average through two-plus years, according to Baseball Reference, is a .279 average with 104 runs scored, 40 doubles, 23 home runs, 80 RBI, 16 stolen bases, a .279 average, .332 OBP, and .806 OPS.
That’s already All-Star caliber production, and I don’t think we’ve seen the ceiling for the 22-year-old (will turn 23 in January).
I still think Ozzie can be a .300 hitter, and at some point he has to learn some plate discipline and start earning more walks to boost that OBP.
He did a much better job of that in 2019 with an OBP of .352 after compiling 54 walks and just 112 strikeouts.
Ozzie may not be able to keep pace with the number of home runs Marte and Torres are going to hit, but he gives you so much value in so many areas that I think he’s on the cusp of becoming not just the best second baseman in baseball, but a top 15 player in MLB.
His 4.6 WAR ranked 25th best among all of Major League Baseball in 2019, so that’s really not a huge leap.
Next. Benefits of Austin Riley at 3B. dark
And maybe the best part of it all is the Braves have him locked up for potentially eight more seasons for $44 million.