It was certainly…a season for Marcell Ozuna with the Atlanta Braves in 2022. One that I am sure Ozuna would like to put behind him as he moves forward in his career. To start this review, I am just going to get this part out of the way early.
On August 19th, Marcell Ozuna was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and failure to maintain lane. This follows a 2021 year that was marred by a domestic violence episode and subsequent suspension.
There, I mentioned it. It happened and was a big storyline, so it needed to be mentioned in the season review, but I will refrain from giving an opinion on that situation. I am more focused on his play on the field here.
It was bad.
How did the 2022 season go for the Atlanta Braves’ Marcell Ozuna?
In 124 games, Marcell Ozuna hit .226/.274/.413 with 23 HR, 56 R, 56 RBI, 2 SB, including a .298 wOBA and 88 wRC+. Defensively, well, defensively we saw why he was primarily signed to be the designated hitter. Playing 420 innings in left field, Ozuna accumulated -6 DRS, -2 runs prevented, and -3 OAA. It was not pretty, and he was not hiding it with his bat. Which is an issue because he was signed with his sole purpose of being a great hitter. Yeah, 23 home runs is nice but that was about it. It even led to him losing a regular spot in the lineup for a while. Overall, Marcell Ozuna was worth -0.8 bWAR & -0.6 fWAR.
Looking at some silver linings; when Marcell Ozuna made contact, he made hard contact. Here are some positives:
- 13.1% barrel rate – 90th percentile
- .478 xSLG – 90th percentile
- 43.8% hard-hit – 72nd percentile
- .337 xwOBA – 72nd percentile
- .256 xBA – 64th percentile
𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆 𝘿𝙐 𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) June 14, 2022
Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall brought the power bats to D.C. pic.twitter.com/PgnuegxYFb
Encouraging. His max exit velocity of 113.9 mph put him in the 93rd percentile in that category as well. His peripherals suggest he was a tad unlucky. He hits the ball hard which is always a positive. The biggest issue was he often did not make contact. The negatives:
- 33.3% chase rate- 20th percentile
- 6.1% walk rate- 21st percentile
- 28.7% whiff rate- 22nd percentile
- 24.1% K rate- 31st percentile
Hitting the ball hard is kind of neutralized when one cannot make contact. There is also the concern with his batted ball profile in terms of his launch angle. His line drives are down, while his pop ups are up.
Line Drives:
- 2019- 26.3%
- 2020- 27.8%
- 2021-27.5%
- 2022-20.7%
Pop Ups
- 2019- 7.3%
- 2020- 8.9%
- 2021- 7.0%
- 2022- 10.2%
It is a troubling when the guy who was brought in to be the Designated Hitter struggles to hit. He is owed at $33M over the next two seasons and is considered one of the worst contracts around the league. There have been some rumors come out that the Braves have attempted to move Marcell Ozuna for other bad contracts. The two mentioned being Avisaíl García and Patrick Corbin. However, we do not know the details such as how much money was being discussed being sent between either side.
Marcell Ozuna knew he got all of it. Nick Pivetta also knew Ozuna got all of it. An absolute bomb. It's Ozuna's 20th homer of the year.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) August 11, 2022
3-0, Braves pic.twitter.com/rHjpT0njVj
Either way, it looks like the Braves have discussed the idea of moving on from Marcell Ozuna. It just does not appear that any other team has shown any interest just yet. We did have an article written by Christian Dart that highlights some bad contracts the Braves could attempt to swap for Ozuna that you can read here. There is also the possibility that the Braves decide that Marcell Ozuna is a sunk cost and it is time to move on.
If Marcell Ozuna is in a Braves uniform in 2023, I personally hope to see him bounce back. I will be cheering for the guy in the Braves jersey and hoping to see him put his past two seasons behind him.