Atlanta Braves: Ozzie Albies the first star of the rebuild
The Atlanta Braves have built their rebuild around young pitching. It seems fitting that the first star of the rebuild is an undersized position player.
When the Atlanta Braves began their rebuild after the 2014 season, the focus was on developing a farm system brimming with pitching depth along with excellent position depth as well. It was obvious, though, that the Atlanta Braves were focused on pitching in their rebuilding moves. So, there is a bit of irony that the first player to come up from that farm system and flash stardom is a position player!
Signed for just $350,000 from Curacao (an island that has been very positive for the Atlanta Braves since the days of Andruw Jones), Ozzie Albies has consistently outplayed his diminutive size. Standing just 5’8″ (in shoes, maybe platform shoes!), and listed at 165 pounds (though he’s put on some solid muscle the last two seasons, Albies has always hit the ball with authority.
He hit .364/.446/.444 across two rookie levels in his pro debut at 17 in 2014 to put himself firmly on the radar as a top prospect, not just for the Atlanta Braves, but in all of baseball. He followed that up with an elite season in low-A Rome that would have finished with a promotion to high-A if he’d not been injured.
Albies jumped over high-A directly to AA in 2016, and he combined for an impressive .292/.358/.420 between AA and AAA at just 19 years old. His 2017 was spent destroying AAA and then making his major league debut, showing off his impressive power added with his additional strength into his frame, pounding out 30 doubles, 13 triples, and 15 home runs between the majors and AAA in 154 total games.
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What’s incredible is that Albies’ impressive offense (.644 slugging at just 21 years old from a hitter at the top of the lineup) is not what has been the best part of his game thus far.
Albies has impressive range in his game, a legit shortstop, but he moved to second base to work alongside fellow top prospect Dansby Swanson. As much as Dansby has been advertised as the face of the first wave of Atlanta Braves prospects, Albies has been the one doing it on the field.
On defense, Albies has been flashing the leather, robbing hits left and right so far. He’s posted a 156 wRC+, which is third on the Atlanta Braves behind superstar Freddie Freeman and the aforementioned Swanson, who is showing some significant improvements in his plate approach in 2018.
Next: Has Acuna earned promotion?
Atlanta Braves fans will be enjoying the offensive and defensive exploits of Ozzie Albies at the top of the lineup and up the middle on defense for years to come!