Braves could have at least half of Ozzie Albies available for playoff push
The 2024 season has been one to forget thus far for the Atlanta Braves. Sure, they enter Friday's series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers only 1.0 game back of the third Wild Card spot in the NL, but they were expecting to be solidly in postseason positioning by the middle of September entering the year, and have dealt with a myriad of injuries.
Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. have missed most of the season and won't return. Austin Riley is done for the remainder of the regular season. Guys like Reynaldo Lopez, Michael Harris II, Max Fried, and Sean Murphy have all missed substantial time. To top it off, Ozzie Albies, Atlanta's star second baseman, is currently in the midst of his second IL stint of the season.
Albies suffered a wrist fracture in late July and has been out ever since. He was having a down year, but his injury on top of the others Atlanta has had to deal with is the biggest reason why they're currently on the outside looking in.
Fortunately for the Braves, Albies appears to finally be nearing a return, but that potential return comes with a major catch.
Ozzie Albies said he expects to play again this season. He said he can bat only from the right side until the left-handed swing feels better. Because the right-handed swing feels good, he is hopeful he can return within the next week — but there’s no set date.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) September 13, 2024
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Ozzie Albies is nearing a return from the IL, but there's a major catch
The switch-hitting Albies hasn't felt good swinging a bat left-handed but is fine right-handed. If he is going to return in the next week like he hopes, it'll be exclusively as a right-handed hitter. As weird as this sounds, this is great news for Atlanta on multiple fronts.
First and foremost, Atlanta's production at second base without Albies is lackluster, to say the least. Whit Merrifield was just inserted back into the starting lineup just six days after fracturing his foot. He wasn't anything special before the injury, and playing at less than 100 percent won't help. They just traded for Cavan Biggio, a player who has been DFA'd twice this season alone. Even half of Albies is better than both Merrifield and Biggio.
What's great about this news in particular is that the half of Albies the Braves will be getting is his better half by far.
This season, the switch-hitter has slashed .343/.356/.,912 with four home runs as a right-handed hitter. His .912 OPS is nearly 300 points higher than his .645 mark against righties. These extreme splits haven't just been prevalent this season, but it's been a theme in Albies' entire career.
Albies has a .932 career OPS and a .747 mark against righties. This kind of disparity could easily have already raised the question of whether Albies should be a right-handed hitter full-time. There will be an adjustment against right-handed pitching at first, but half of Albies, especially with that half being the right-handed hitter, is better than no Albies at all.
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