As the Atlanta Braves prepare for the 2025 season, slugger Marcell Ozuna is expected to be a major threat in the middle of Brian Snitker’s order once again. But back in 2023, no one could've seen this coming.
Just two years ago, even Braves fans were booing Ozuna every time he stepped up to the plate. With the combination of his off-field issues and on-field lack of production, his big-league career was in danger. So it should come as no surprise that Ozuna was not selected to the Dominican national team ahead of the World Baseball Classic in 2023. But for some reason, it was very much a surprise to Ozuna himself, and it sounds like he's still upset about it to this day.
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Marcell Ozuna needs to let his old World Baseball Classic grudge go
Ozuna announced on Monday that he had no interest in participating in the next edition of the WBC in 2026. And he made it very clear why: “I said I wasn’t going to the Classic and I’m not going," Ozuna said. "Why? Because those are my decisions. When I wanted to go, I was not chosen to go where I thought I deserved to be."
Ozuna's career was at a career low point when the DR chose its roster for the 2023 tournament. He had been arrested for domestic violence in 2021, and just a year later, he was arrested for a DUI. And beyond all that, he was also struggling mightily at the plate, posting a .675 OPS across the 2021 and 2022 seasons. It looked like the end of his career was near, and there was absolutely no reason for his country to want him representing it on one of the sport's biggest stages.
Ozuna has since turned things around, on the field at least. He experienced a renaissance for Atlanta in 2023, ending the year with a .274 average to go along with 40 homers and 100 RBI. He continued his tear in 2024, hitting .302 and coming just one long ball shy of another 40/100 season. No doubt that Ozuna has proven he can still contribute as a hitter, but hindsight is 20/20. He should understand that the Dominican Republic had more than enough reason to exclude him from the 2023 WBC, and he should be self-aware enough to understand how lucky he is to still have a career at all given his past behavior.
It sure sounds like Ozuna is holding a grudge against his country because they couldn’t see into the future. The Dominican Republic cannot be to blame for not expecting a resurgence from Marcell Ozuna, or for deciding that he wasn't deserving of the privilege of wearing its uniform.