The Atlanta Braves have been plagued by the injury bug most of the 2023 season. Unfortunately, during the fourth inning of Monday's game against the Tigers, they potentially have another injury to worry about. Marcell Ozuna was hit by a pitch in the wrist area and took a long walk around after being hit.
The Braves training staff and Brian Snitker checked on Ozuna and he appeared visibly in some pain. Looked like he was unable to put much pressure on that wrist and appeared to go get checked out after ending the inning. He was replaced by Travis d'Arnaud in the fifth inning as the DH for the remainder of Monday's game.
Marcell Ozuna just hit with a pitch to start the 4th. Looked like it got him on the right hand, maybe the palm or high on the wrist. He'll stay in the game for now – I'm sure they'll monitor him after he gets back in.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) June 12, 2023
He was hit in a very similar spot that resulted in a microfracture for Orlando Arcia and landed him on the 10-day IL. It's unfortunate if Ozuna is going to miss significant time because he had begun to figure things out offensively and consistently contributing offensively.
Ozuna had been dreadful to start the season batting .085 through his first 18 games of the year but improved drastically over the month of May. Since that explosive series in Miami, Ozuna is batting .320/.386/.631 with 33 hits including 5 doubles, 9 home runs, and 23 RBI. He's continued to play well during the month of June. He's now batting .246 on the season with 13 homers, 29 RBI, and a .828 OPS.
Losing him now would be a huge blow to the offense. We do have good options for the DH slot such as TDA, Sean Murphy, and Kevin Pillar. However, it's hard to lose a batter who has finally figured things out and provides a good bit of offensive output.
Before that happened, the Braves also had concern about Charlie Morton who seemed to be feeling some discomfort with his throwing shoulder during the third inning. The Braves pitching staff checked on him and he remained in the game and got out of the inning. He returned for the fourth inning and looked a tad bit more comfortable but something to pay close attention to.
Stay tuned to House That Hank Built for updates.