Not too long ago, Ozzie Albies was an All-Star and considered by many to have the most team-friendly contract in MLB. The Atlanta Braves were thriving offensively, and Albies was playing a huge role in the team's success. Now, with the infielder mired in a prolonged slump, Braves fans can only wonder if his time in Atlanta is running out.
I know, Albies isn't the only Braves position player struggling right now. Alex Verdugo has slowed down after a hot start, Michael Harris II has underwhelmed for much of the year and even Matt Olson hasn't quite met expectations thus far.
Albies' struggles, however, stand out above the others. And again, how he's playing could lead to a major change being made in the not-too-distant future.
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Ozzie Albies must turn things around for his future in Atlanta to be solidified
Albies was an All-Star in 2022 and received down-ballot NL MVP votes, but had an underwhelming .707 OPS last season and has taken another step back to begin the 2025 campaign. The switch-hitter is slashing .213/.270/.331 with five home runs and 15 RBI in 40 games.
I know, it's only mid-May, but we've already played a quarter of the season, and Albies, statistically, is performing like one of the worst hitters in the game. His 68 WRC+ is tied with Andres Gimenez for the 146th-best mark out of 165 qualified position players.
Somehow, it's only getting worse. After an 0-for-4 game in Atlanta's most recent loss, Albies is now hitless in his last 21 at-bats. He has five hits in 38 at-bats (.132 BA) in the month of May, and three of those hits came in one game. Again, plenty of Braves are to blame for the team's offensive struggles, including manager Brian Snitker for continuing to keep Albies out of the lower third of the order, but the 28-year-old in particular has been brutal.
There's obviously plenty of time for Albies to turn it around, but what suggests that he'll do that? Sure, he has a .225 BABIP, but he ranks in the 20th percentile or lower in virtually every quality of contact metric, according to Baseball Savant. It's not as if he's been getting unlucky. He's known for crushing left-handed pitching, but he has a putrid .443 OPS against southpaws this season. And it's not like he has a strong 2024 to fall back on, either.
Albies has club options for the 2026 and 2027 seasons worth $7 million each. These were originally seen as just added bonuses on an already ridiculously team-friendly deal, but with how he performed last season and how he's played this year thus far, are we sure that the Braves will even elect to keep him around for the 2026 campaign? Maybe they'll look back at his All-Star 2023 campaign to try and justify it, but Albies hasn't even been worth $7 million since that year, which is crazy to say.
The Braves are in a tough spot here. They know what Albies is capable of, and they know that at 28 years old, he should be entering his prime. The problem, though, is that Albies has not played like the star the Braves expected him to be. At some point, the player he once was is too far in the rearview mirror to realistically believe in. Albies is approaching that point, if he isn't already there. The Braves have to be thinking about what life is going to be like without Albies, whether that means top infield prospect Nacho Alvarez or someone else fills in at the keystone.