Marcell Ozuna is second in the way-too-early NL MVP race
I know Braves fans are ready to crown the guy that at this time last season, they were begging AA to DFA, as the next NL MVP.
And as badly as I want to crown him that too, it's hard to deny what Mookie Betts is doing over in Los Angeles. Here are their slash lines side to side:
Betts: .369/.470/.667, 1.137 OPS
Ozuna: .352/.403/.732, 1.135 OPS
In case anyone was wondering that's a 1.137 OPS for Betts and a 1.135 OPS for Ozuna which is about as close as you can get.
But enough of the way-to-early MVP talk, this is meant to be a praise Marcell Ozuna moment and just comparing Ozuna to Betts is doing that, because no one in their right mind was doing that before the season started.
Ozuna has eight homers on the season and is tied for the MLB lead with Mike Trout. Marcell has the most homers in the NL, however. Ozuna does lead all of baseball in the RBI category with 23 of them. His .732 slugging percentage is also second-best in Major League Baseball.
BIG BEAR NO DOUBTERπ€― pic.twitter.com/D2WMjJTtxc
β Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) April 17, 2024
Oh, and he's got a 16-game hit streak going which he extended on Wednesday with an absolute nuke to left field that made Yordan Alvarez do something I only thought happened in MLB The Show, he didn't even take his hands off his knees as the ball flew into the left field bleachers. Literally, no one in the Astros outfield moved a muscle.
Time will tell if he can keep this up. But if anyone had Ozuna vs. Betts as the early season NL MVP race, stop talking to them immediately because you can't trust a word that comes out of their mouth.
However, with some fans wondering what form of Marcell Ozuna they would get in 2024, they've been reassured early on with the best form of the big bear. He is putting up one of the best performances we've seen from an Atlanta Brave to start the season.