House That Hank Built
Fansided

3 Atlanta Braves to watch for in a 60-game season

By Daniel Rasmussen

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 30: Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after their 10-7 win over the Chicago White Sox at SunTrust Park on August 30, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 30: Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after their 10-7 win over the Chicago White Sox at SunTrust Park on August 30, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 4
Next
Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Ozzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images) /

Ozzie Albies is a talented young player, but his value in a short season could be significantly enhanced.

Ok, fair enough.

Perhaps it’s a little silly to say that Ozzie Albies is a “player to watch out for”, given his already-established reputation as one of the game’s top young second basemen, backed by his 2018 All-Star status and 2019 Silver Slugger hardware.

But hear me out on this: in a shortened 2020 season that only consists of 60-70 games, Ozzie Albies could end up being the most important bat in the lineup.

Why? In a sprint instead of a marathon, he’s one of Atlanta’s best sprinters.

While Albies doesn’t have the longevity to this point in his time as a major leaguer to give extra context to his career numbers, he still has been around the league long enough in his 2.5 seasons to produce certain trends as a hitter.

Here’s what those trends have to say:

  • Career first half – 757 AB, .285 BA, .502 SLG, .835 OPS
  • Career second half – 739 AB, .273 BA, .444 SLG, .775 OPS

What we see here is a clear advantage to Albies’s performance in the early months of the season as compared to the “dog days” of the schedule.

An even deeper look within those splits finds that Ozzie Albies especially loves the first month of baseball. Per Fangraphs, he put up an OPS of .844 in March/April of 2019, and .988 in those months in 2018.

Like Adam Duvall, the Great and Powerful Oz also sees a lot more of his power production take place at the beginning of the season, with Albies toting a .217 career ISO in the season’s first half (compared to .171 in the second half).

One thing is clear in all this: Ozzie Albies is a great young player, but he’s especially great at the beginning of seasons.

Hypothetically speaking one more time, in a 60-70 game sprint, there’s no time to “get a feel for things”, no need to “save the best for the second half”.

In order for a team to have success in this bizarre scenario of a season, the quick-starters are going to be the ones to seize the day and thrust their teams into favorable postseason positions.

Ozzie Albies could very well be that guy for the Atlanta Braves, if (fingers crossed) baseball happens in 2020.

Stay tuned.

Home/Braves News