Atlanta Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna was in hot water with the Dodgers for his backswing. On Wednesday night, he got the better of that argument.
Marcell Ozuna's one-handed backswing was deemed a danger by Dodgers catcher Will Smith, and the two had words on Monday in a heated argument. After the game, Smith put Ozuna on blast, suggesting he ought to change his approach.
"He hit me in the head with his bat pretty hard. It's not the first time he's done it to me. He's done it to other catchers around the league. I just felt like there comes a point where I need to say something there. In the moment, it kind of got a little heated. It's something he's not doing on purpose. But (if) you do it enough times you'd think he'd fix it," Smith said.
Ozuna responded, suggesting that Smith showed him up and made an example out of him, per The Athletic.
Braves: Marcell Ozuna shows up Will Smith, Dodgers
The easy solution here would be for Smith to back up, and thus avoid further concussions and/or hits to the head. To their credit, that it was Brian Snitker and the Braves coaching staff suggested in their advice to Smith. Ozuna, who has been using his odd swing for nearly a decade, is not going to suddenly alter his enter approach because one player has a problem with it.
Ozuna got the best of Smith and LA on Wednesday night, hitting a home run AND Smith's helmet with his backswing. The latter was not intentional, of course.
Give Smith some credit, as the Dodgers catcher did not make any motion towards Ozuna after the fact. He allowed his rival to round the bases, and moved on to the next batter.
But make no mistake, Ozuna won this round and then some.
