The Atlanta Braves have to feel pretty good about keeping designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, as he has since broken out of his slump.
To start off the season, Atlanta Braves fans had seen enough of Marcell Ozuna. In the month of April, Ozuna owned a .091 batting average, a .206 on-base percentage, a .218 slugging percentage, and a .425 OPS. While the cries for the team to move on from Ozuna grew, things changed since their May series against the Miami Marlins, as he crushed three home runs and knocked in six runs in the three-game set.
If you thought he was done there, that's not the case.
On Saturday, the Braves were looking to get back in their series against the Toronto Blue Jays after losing 3-0 the day prior. In the top of the second inning, Ozuna stepped up to the plate with teammate Eddie Rosario on first base. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat with a 3-2 count, Ozuna crushed a homer to deep left field to give Atlanta an early 2-0 lead.
Marcell Ozuna continues hot streak with massive home run vs. Blue Jays
With that, Ozuna's torrid May continued. Sure, he's hitting a lot of home runs, which is a fantastic improvement from how he played the start of the season. However, his approach at the plate has gotten better as well. As MLB.com's Mark Bowman points out, his chase rate decreased from 33.4 to 25.0 percent, his strikeout rate went down from 24.1 to 22.2 percent, and his walk rate increased from 6.1 to 13.1 percent.
Prior to this game, Ozuna carried a .296 batting average, a .406 on-base percentage, a .741 slugging percentage, and a 1.147 OPS, along with four home runs, eight RBI, eight runs scored and eight hits.
There's still a lot of season remaining, but the Braves showing patience with Ozuna seems to have paid off. The fanbase hope that this momentum can continue throughout the season.
