3 Braves that must rise to occasion after injuries to stars

Marcel Ozuna needs to give Braves something positive with d’Arnaud, Harris out

Spring Training offered an inkling of hope for Braves fans that Marcel Ozuna would turn around his disastrous 2022 season and get back to being the All-Star-caliber hitter that he was just a few of years ago. He mashed down in Florida, so it seemed reasonable that a veteran with his talent would be able to snap out of last season’s slump and hit well again.

The good news is that Ozuna already has two home runs on the year to start the regular season. The bad news — and the more telling news in this situation — is that those are the only two hits that the DH has on the season.

Ozuna is slashing an abysmal .071/.212/.286 with 10 strikeouts over just 28 at-bats on the year. It’s not only just as bad as his 2022 performance, it’s been even worse thus far.

With d’Arnaud unable to DH while he’s on the IL and without the electricity of Harris in the lineup, it all but assures that Ozuna is going to be a fixture in the Braves lineup until those guys return. And really, they just need anything from him that isn’t what he’s been doing through nine appearances in the season — namely, hitting an occasional home run and doing nothing else for the offense.

Even with the evidence of the past couple of seasons, it’s hard to believe that Ozuna is this bad at this point in his career. But now is put-up-or-shut-up time for the veteran as the Braves will need him to step up and give some more production. And really, failing to do so might usher in his exit from the organization.