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Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Braves Future Begins

We already knew one of the Braves' better prospects was making his debut tonight as Lucas Sims gets set to start tonight's game but it looks like that's not all that's happening.

MLB's prospect account MLBPipeline just sent this tweet:


That's right 2B/SS Ozzie Albies is set to join the major league roster for tonight's game vs the LA Dodgers.

My initial speculation is this is an injury replacement for someone. Brandon Phillips has been moving like he's dragging a tractor tire behind him lately so it wouldn't be a shock if Atlanta puts him on the DL for 10 days. The alternative is Atlanta just feels like he's ready. It's been no secret they've been aggressive with promotions, so them calling him up now wouldn't be terribly surprising. We'll see.

Whatever the reason, Ozzie has earned this promotion by torching AAA the last few months. For the season Albies is hitting .285/.330/.440, but is running almost a .900 OPS since returning from the DL a couple months ago. And doing that after struggling early which many evaluators look for, how a guy handles poor performance and how he responds. Albies has answered the bell.

 All of that is impressive enough for a 20 year old in AAA, but what has gotten me more excited about Albies this year is he's started developing some power. Already at a career high in home runs at 9, Albies is running a .156 ISO, which given his size, speed, and position is plenty good to be an all-star level performer.

If it is an injury replacement then this will be more of a glimpse into the future than the actual beginning of it but either way, the fans will take something to cheer for. After a 3-8 road trip that included being swept in 4 games in Philadelphia, Braves' fans will take anything they can get. And there's nothing quite as exciting as seeing what the future holds.


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