Surviving Ozzie Albies Foot Fracture Will Be Major Test For Atlanta Braves

SportsMoney Surviving Ozzie Albies Foot Fracture Will Be Major Test For Atlanta Braves Dan Schlossberg Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I have written 38 books and more than 20,000 articles about baseball Jun 14, 2022, 07:57am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Atlanta Braves will miss the potent bat of switch-hitting second baseman Ozzie Albies after he . .

. [+] broke his foot in Washington Monday night. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) ASSOCIATED PRESS Last year, it was Ronald Acuna, Jr.

Now it’s his closest friend, Ozzie Albies. The injury bug has taken a big bite out of the Atlanta Braves for the second straight season. En route to a 9-5 win in Washington that ran their winning streak to an even dozen, the Braves lost their spark-plug second baseman with a fractured foot.

How long the diminutive switch-hitter is sidelined remains to be determined but he’ll almost certainly miss most of the summer. A slick fielder who formed a fine double-play tandem with Dansby Swanson, Albies was also a surprising source of power – especially for someone who is the National League’s answer to tiny Houston second baseman Jose Altuve. Albies, 25, is generously listed at 5’8″ tall and 165 pounds.

But that didn’t stop him from slamming 30 home runs and collecting 106 runs batted in, both career peaks, last year. He also stole 20 bases, another personal best, while batting in various spots in the lineup. He’s durable too, starting 61 of the team’s 62 games this season.

Orlando Arcia, a 27-year-old journeyman, replaced Albies after the Monday night injury, which occurred in the fifth inning at Nationals Park when he tripped leaving the batter’s box after hitting a ground ball to short. MORE FOR YOU WWE Extreme Rules 2021 Results: Winners, News And Notes As Roman Reigns Beats The Demon The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2021: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo Reclaims Top Spot From PSG’s Lionel Messi The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The San Francisco 49ers Versatile Orlando Arcia is likely to serve as chief understudy for Ozzie Albies as the All-Star . .

. [+] recovers from a fractured foot. (AP Photo/Mark J.

Terrill) ASSOCIATED PRESS Albies has been an All-Star twice as a reserve and might have been elected to start the July 19 game in Los Angeles this year. Fan voting for the starting lineups began last week. Albies led the National League with 189 hits in 2019 but altered his approach in recent seasons to increase his power production.

His average has fallen from . 271 in 2020 to . 259 in 2021 and finally to .

244 this year. His current mark matches the career average of Arcia, a versatile backup who has spent most of his career as a shortstop with the Milwaukee Brewers. Other potential replacements for Albies include a trio of veterans at Triple-A Gwinnett, Atlanta’s top farm team.

They include Phil Gosselin, who’s played for the Braves before, as well as Pat Valaika and Hernán Pérez. A trade is also possible, with Brandon Drury of the Reds, César Hernández of the Nationals, and Rougned Odor of the Orioles all free agents this fall and playing for teams well out of playoff contention. The Braves rank ninth in the majors with a payroll of $179,723,357 and Liberty Media, the Denver-based firm that owns the ballclub, has given the green light to emergency increases after unexpected injuries.

After Acuna tore his ACL last July 10, Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos won the trade deadline by acquiring four fill-in outfielders who fueled his team’s second-half surge. They included Eddie Rosario, a lefty-swinging slugger set to return next month after early-season vision problems; Adam Duvall, who led the league in runs batted in after starting the 2021 campaign in Miami; Jorge Soler, the eventual World Series MVP; and Joc Pederson, now with San Francisco. The silver lining in the Albies injury is that he should be ready to return well before the 2022 playoffs, whether the Braves win their fifth straight NL East crown or a wild-card spot.

In his post-game comments to reporters Monday, Braves manager Brian Snitker said, “I hate it for Ozzie, and I hate it for us. It’s unfortunate, but it’s one of those things. He’ll be fine.

He’s young. He’ll heal quick, but I just hate it for the kid because he loves to play baseball and he’s such a big part of our club. ” Follow me on Twitter .

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