The Braves announced that second baseman Ozzie Albies has fractured his left foot. He departed tonight’s game against the Nationals in the fifth inning after suffering the injury.
Albies stumbled out of the batter’s box after hitting a ground-ball to shortstop. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, but he immediately departed the game and initial x-rays revealed a fracture. The club will no doubt provide a more specific timetable for his recovery over the coming days, but it’s likely he’s in for an extended absence.
The switch-hitting Albies has started 61 of Atlanta’s 62 games at the keystone. The lone other start went to utilityman Orlando Arcia, who’d seem to be the likeliest candidate to take over the position moving forward. Aside from the starting infield of Matt Olson, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley, the only other primary infielders on the Atlanta 40-man roster are first baseman/DH Mike Ford and recent waiver claim Kramer Robertson. The latter is capable of playing second base but has exactly one MLB plate appearance under his belt.
Arcia has hit well in limited playing time off the bench this season, but he’s been a below-average offensive player in every other year of his career. The former Brewer shortstop is a lifetime .244/.295/.365 hitter in a bit more than 2000 plate appearances at the big league level. Albies is a two-time All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner who has been above-average at the dish in every full season of his career.
Albies had been off to a bit of a slow start this year, as he owns a personal-worst .244/.289/.405 line through 263 trips to the plate. He’d rated well defensively, though, and his career track record suggested he was likely to turn the corner offensively. Those efforts will now be put on hold.
The Braves have been playing as well as anyone in the sport over the past few weeks. They’re amidst an 11-game win streak that has pushed them to 34-27 entering play Monday. A slow start coupled with the Mets’ excellent first couple months still has Atlanta five and a half games back in the NL East standings, but the defending champions currently occupy the league’s third and final Wild Card spot.
Depending on how long Albies is expected to miss, general manager Alex Anthopoulos and his staff could turn to the trade market for help. Players such as Brandon Drury (Reds), Rougned Odor (Orioles) and César Hernández (Nationals) are impending free agents on non-competitive teams and aren’t going to demand a huge trade return. If the club looks internally for depth behind Arcia, non-roster veterans Phil Gosselin, Hernán Pérez and Pat Valaika are at Triple-A Gwinnett, as is recent waiver claim Joe Dunand. Gosselin, in particular, is hitting well with the Stripers this season.
Pour one out for him
I see Gosselin getting the call. Arcia and Gosselin platoon at 2nd. Plus Gosselin can play all over the field in a pinch minus pitcher/catcher/shortstop/center field. I’d imagine he could pitch in a blowout situation but to me that shouldn’t be allowed.
Yes, Gosselin should get the call. I think as long as Gosselin/Arcane play decent defense, anything from their bats is just icing on the cake
too bad this didn’t happen 10 years ago, it would have given Albies the chance to grow another foot…
Madbum NLCS incoming to tell us how this is a blessing in disguise for ATL.
Sucks to lose Albies but I’m guessing a DFA of Robertson and Gosselin being called up to the MLB club.
They just picked up Roberson after the Cardinals DFA him? He’s good depth if nothing else till the braves find out how long Albies is out for. Roberson is a on base machine
Doesn’t really matter. If they have to make a 40-man spot then Robertson is a likely candidate, probably even the most likely.
They just picked up Roberson after the Cardinals DFA him? He’s good depth if nothing else till the braves find out how long Albies is out for. Roberson is a on base machine in his time in AAA
They just picked up Roberson after the Cardinals DFA him? He’s good depth if nothing else till the braves find out how long Albies is out for. Roberson is a on base machine in his time in AAA
Congrats Hippyripper, you scored the hat trick!
Alright AA time to do your thing, you know what to do next but still
Get Brandon Drury from the Reds.
6-8 weeks recovery. No big deal.
Well this sucks, but it is always difficult to repeat a World Series
Also, the Orioles could send Odor to the Braves to help smooth things over
No thank you. Prefer a steady attitude on this team. Odor hasn’t been league average offensively for the last five years and really only had one decent offensive season. His defense has never been better than average.
As an Orioles fan I could see why you want to move him though.
My bet is that Gosselin or Shewmake are going to be the call. Just not sure which.
He has such a terrible left-handed swing he managed to break his foot. Don’t think the Braves lose much here with Arcia because good defensively. Offensively, they lose little – Albies is a bad hitter.
You sir, are a moron. That is all.
Yeah, who needs Albies anyways!?! Surely the Braves can just go out and pickup some bum off the waiver wire to replace Albies..CLEARLY, Arcia is just as good..
Albies, the Silver Slugger Award winning, GG caliber defensive All-Star Second Baseman practically each and every season…
Find another sport to watch, because clearly you don’t understand the game of baseball…
Good lord if ignorance is bliss, this joker has got to be on top of the world!!
He hit 30 homeruns last year and is currently batting well. You done smoked yourself stupid.
So did Duvall and a bunch of other players hitting juiced balls. 30 homers do not mean you are a good hitter.
As for the other guy — jeez relax a bit. Albies is already out and all I said was Arcia was a solid replacement due to his defense. Albies will be out for a month or 2… no big deal. He is not carrying the team offensively so it is not a huge deal.
Your take on Albies makes about as much sense as Biden shutting down the pipeline without a clear transitional plan
Ever heard of global warming?
I thought it was called “Climate Change” now. Chili today, Hot Tamale.
Well, unfortunately, while the take on Albies was indeed moronic, you doubled down. Try researching some unbiased sources. Pipeline closure has had no impact on gas prices.
That is the worst take I’ve ever read, horrible offensively?? Albies is top 3 2b in the game easy. You sir are blind
May I offer you one highly used journeyman sexybaseman in Tony kemp just give the As your best prospect again : D
Sounds good.. just include Montas. The A’s can have pretty much anyone they want from the minors with Strider and Harris up.
I would like the Braves to get Brandon Drury if available. Bring him back to the organization he started with. He played well for the Mets last season. Once Albies is back, Drury can be used all over the infield.
The Braves best prospect just hit his first HR and starts in CF now. The A’s took Langaliers over William Contreras for some reason…
Because Langeliers will be better than Contreras. Just 3 years from now.
Dude hasn’t even played a single MLB game. Last I checked Contreras is rolling around w/ a 1.000+ OPS and is on the All-Star Game ballot. But 3 years, ok. Pache was the Braves best prospect for 3 years and couldn’t stick on the MLB club.
The Braves aren’t losing any sleep over those 2 when they’ve got Contreras and Harris contributing on the daily. The Olson guy is kinda good too!
Are you seriously gloating about that trade as an A’s fan? Um, Pache’s OPS is lower than Harris’s Slugging Percentage. Langeliers and Contreras are the same age. Contreras has an MLB OPS 200 points higher than the Minor League OPS of Langeliers. Cusick is carrying around an 8.13 ERA in double-A. Maybe Oakland should hire some scouts instead of looking at the prospect rankings on mlb.com.
Contreras’ small sample size OPS doesn’t prove that he’s better than Langeliers long-term, and Shea’s defense is likely much better than William’s. There’s a reason Oakland wanted Shea instead of William. Pache and the pitchers were worth trading, because OF and pitching prospects are easier to find than catchers. Pitching prospects are generally a crapshoot.
Imo, AA was looking for an excuse to not re-sign Freddie, and he quickly pivoted to Olson. We’ll regret his trading Langeliers.
YOLO call up Braden Schemake. Dude has a solid glove.
I think it’s either him or Gosselin. I wouldn’t mind either one of them. Would rather have them over Odor.
My guess is AA is a very busy man this morning.
Arcia will be playing 2nd. They’ll be calling someone up to take Arcia’s place as the reserve infielder. Shewmake is still developing. AA will not call him up to sit on the bench.
You are almost certainly correct .. .unless they think it’s time to give Shewmake ahead of a contract decision of Swanson. In which case they bring him up as a regular and keep Arcia as rotating rest guy.
Honestly, Braves should just call up Brandon Shewmake. Is he the best option? Idk… but with our recent success of not really missing on minor league hitters, he’s likely a decent enough option. Last year he was terrible. But historically he always hits for avg and plays solid defense. If he can do exactly that and get on base some, that’s actually huge. Cause Ozzie wasn’t even playing his best baseball at the plate this year. Regardless, Ozzie, get better, quick. You’re still one of, if not the best, 2B in the game
*Braden
Shewmake has only played SS in the minors so far. I’m guessing it will be Gosselin and he can play multiple positions.
Albies was a SS in the minors. He and Swanson alternated SS/2B every game when they were down together.
You just said it. Ozzie learned second base in the minors.
The difference in the 2 positions isn’t significant enough to stop a promotion. The real question is can he hit in the show? That’s truly it. It’s not like an OF trying to play SS… lol
Sorry, but No,they didn’t alternate. While Albies was a SS, he was promoted to Gwinnett while Dansby was promoted to Mississippi to replace Ozzie. Once the saw Dansby had more accurate arm & made less errors, smoother player(Ozzie had stronger arm/more range). They moved Ozzie to 2nd, then sent him back to Mississippi so they could play together & get accustomed to each others playing style. Why would any organization alternate 2 players like that?
There was a period where Swanson saw some 2B if I recall correctly, but that basically last 10 seconds. Once the two were on the same team, they have pretty much strictly been in their current respective positions. But again, it’s not difficult for a SS to transfer to 2nd. No different than a CF moving to LF or RF. Some minor adjustments but overall no issue
Give me credit for spelling the last name correctly
Rockies should see what the Braves will give them for Jose Iglesias. But they probably still have misplaced hopes of contending.
For 2B…? Guy can’t even hit in Coors and you don’t need a glove-only 2B, if we did, Arcia would at least be that.
Iglesias has an OPS+ of 99 so far this year. Good enough to be a stopgap 2B. And plenty good to back up Swanson and Arcia if you make Arcia the regular 2B. Certainly better than any of the AAA options mentioned in the post.
Uh oh spaghetti oh
Meatballs or original?
Buy low on Cavan Biggio? He doesn’t seem to have a permanent role in Toronto.
The Braves will be just fine with Arcia who’s been hitting well all year. A Goose call up will be just fine but I don’t see why we don’t go ahead and bring up Robertson, he’s fast and if he doesn’t do good, oh well DFA him.
Robertson is a onbase machine in AAA. No power though
Dude, you’re talking about BS stats. The case could be made that Harris was an “on base machine” before he came up. He has collected 2 walks. Like Harris, Robertson would be hitting 9th in front of Acuna. No one is walking either of them with Acuna coming up and there is no indication that Robertson would be able to hit his way on.
Well, it won’t be that bad…they won the WS last year without Acuna, and this injury isn’t what his was.
Hope the best for Albies though. Homie has skills and foot fractures can be a tricky injury from which to recover.
Kramer should get the call. Plays excellent defense and gets on base (OBP of close to .400 at AAA) and swipes bags. He can do the job. This is exactly why they claimed him so use him.
Wouldn’t you think someone that “good” would be on an MLB roster if they were actually good?
How odd, Albies fractures his foot and many of the trolls turn out on the board. It’s such a surprise, no really, it is.
Call the waahmbulance
Albies just goes out there and plays baseball. No noise, no drama, no showboating. He is just a good baseball player. One of the best 2B’s in all of baseball. Utter shame people don’t pull for a guy like that. I feel terrible for that kid. Freak injury on a swing.
Tough break. I’ve always enjoyed seeing Ozzie standing at the plate with a bat that looks bigger than Albies himself. Best wishes for a complete recovery!
Bad time to bring it up, but I claimed that the Braves should make Albies righty only a couple of times. He has terrible career splits from the left hand side, though he was doing better this year, he was still below league average. He also gets injured more from the left hand side though it’s probably just coincidence. His right handed hitting has carried him and he looks far better from that side.
Sadly, it will never happen because of ego, but just because you can hit a little from your secondary side of the plate doesn’t mean you should.
Interesting stat
– in ten career AB’s as a RHB vs a RHP, Albies is batting .400 with a 1.755 OPS. He has three homers in those ten at bats
And how many of those ABs were vs a position player pitching or a knuckleballer?
I said it was an interesting stat .. didn’t say it was worthy of the argument. I am certain you can find a way to determine that if it’s really important to you.
What about Adam Frazier? Mariners are out of it already and he is a solid D guy who hits from the left side (Braves are righty heavy). He can hit lefties well enough to play every day or you could throw those starts over to Arcia.
Just a thought if you want a leftie to balance the lineup a little (though he would be batting 8th most likely and have little impact on pitching changes). I say 8th as I like having Harris at 9th as a secondary leadoff guy in front of Acuna. It’s working beautifully right now.
I know Travis Demerrite was once an infielder before he moved to the OF and has a lot of minor league experience at the keystone. Could try to see if he could find his stroke again after he cooled off after his hot start.
They should bring in their next starting SS and play him at 2B until Albies gets back. Cleveland?
I’d call the Cardinals and see what they want for DeJong
I was just about to say that. The Cards would give him away if someone is willing to take on the contract.
Call the cubs about Villar – won’t take much to get him and gives them someone to play multiple IF positions when Albies comes back
Whit Merrifield to ATL. Make it happen, Royals!
Ozzie Albies consistency on offense and defense is a big reason why the Braves were hot last year and again this year. I still think the Braves are good enough to win without him, but his absence will definitely hurt. Now that the Phillies and Braves are playing well, the NL East could be a lot more interesting. Braves and Mets have a lot games against each other still remaining.
If major injuries are to occur, it is better that they happen now when you have time to re-tool instead of it happening on the last day of the season like what happened to LA last year.