Atlanta Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna was arrested on Friday, at 4 a.m. ET, on DUI charges, several months after a domestic violence arrest in 2021.
The outfielder is now free and with the Braves, and even offered a statement.
The franchise also provided an official statement about the Ozuna situation.
Jeff Schultz of The Athletic published the statement, which, as usual, didn’t have too many details because it’s an ongoing legal issue.
Here’s the Braves’ statement from earlier on Marcell Ozuna’s arrest: pic.twitter.com/uT25Av1epC
— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) August 19, 2022
The Braves did say they were “disappointed” by the situation.
Ozuna’s career has been on a steep decline ever since he slugged 18 homers in the shortened 2020 season.
He slashed .213/.288/.356 last year amid injuries and a suspension for the incident described above.
Ozuna Hasn’t Been Performing Well On And Off The Field
This year, he has been bad despite hitting 20 homers.
His slash line is at .214/.263/.393, and he has -1.1 Wins Above Replacement, or WAR.
To make it clear, Ozuna has been worse than a replacement-level player.
The problem, for the Braves, is that Ozuna signed a four-year deal before the 2021 campaign.
Not only has he not been acting and behaving like a Major League player since signing that deal, but he also hasn’t performed like one.
He has consecutive seasons of a wRC+ in the 70s, when the league average for the stat that evaluates offensive performance is 100.
Since he has virtually no defensive value, Ozuna has to hit in order to maintain his spot in the lineup and on the roster.
When he hasn’t hit for two years, it becomes problematic for him to hold on to his spot, especially with so many rookies and talented players being left out.
We will see how the Braves deal with the issue when they have gathered all the details.
