Marcell Ozuna's early embarrassment is ultimate sign Braves made the right call

Despite a three-hit, three-RBI game in which Marcell Ozuna significantly helped his case among Pittsburgh Pirates fans, the early returns on this marriage are in. The result? Not great! Ozuna has a batting average under the Mendoza line, and were it not for his current four-game hitting streak, would be much worse off.

Prior to his brief hit parade, Ozuna had an OPS of .466, which was nearly 300 points lower than 2025 in what can only be considered another down season for the Pirates DH. The Pirates had just a 47 wRC+ at DH, good for last in all of baseball. His expected stats aren't much better.

Marcell Ozuna's start to the 2026 season tops and embarrassing career

The vast majority of Ozuna's embarrassments, which is actually a favor to him, have come off the field. Back when Ozuna was with the Braves, he was arrested twice — once for domestic violence and once for a DUI. While both are serious offenses, the Braves slapped Ozuna on the wrist. MLB suspended Ozuna for 20 games, which seemed to leave enough of a mark to turn his life around, or so he claims.

Ozuna signed with the Pirates despite these obvious character flaws. Pittsburgh whiffed (much like Ozuna on a breaking ball these days) on players like Kyle Schwarber, who they reportedly had interest in before he re-signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Pirates were out to plunder, but without much of a history of spending — or winning for that matter — the best free agents on the market didn't take them seriously. That left Pittsburgh's front office with a choice before spring training: Should they sign Ozuna or bring back franchise icon and overall good guy Andrew McCutchen?

Desperate to win, Ben Cherington chose the former in Ozuna. While there is still a chance Ozuna turns his season around, he took a significant step back from his All-Star caliber numbers in 2025, and doesn't have the same coaching staff that helped him turn that season around in Atlanta. The Pirates have a long history of finding fool's gold. Ozuna could be the latest example.

Why the Braves were right to part ways with Marcell Ozuna

Rather than overpay for Ozuna — a player clearly on his last legs in the ATL — Alex Anthopoulos instead chose to employ a DH by committee. As of this writing, Drake Baldwin, Dominic Smith and Kyle Farmer man the position, with Baldwin taking most of the at-bats in the last 10 games. While comparing Baldwin to Ozuna is a bit unfair to the latter since the former also plays some catcher for the Braves, Baldwin has outproduced Ozuna by a wide margin so far this season. The same can be said of Smith and even Farmer.

The sad truth is players like Ozuna are a dime a dozen these days. He is far from a five-tool player, and even his hit tool is on the decline. For a team like the Pirates, Ozuna had some value as a .750+ OPS player. If he can reach that mark, perhaps he'll be worth the $12 million contract they signed him to.

The Braves used that money to sign key contributors like Robert Suarez and Mike Yastrzemski, along with re-signing Raisel Iglesias and Ha-Seong Kim. As a result, their bullpen is fortified and the lineup has greater depth, even if some of those pieces haven't panned out just yet.

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