Braves Briefing: Marcell Ozuna named “best designated hitter without any awards” by MLB.com.

The league honored Marcell Ozuna for his 2023 season and released a list of the biggest award snubs.

 

That’s the situation that faced Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna in 2023. A combination of a slow start, historic seasons by his teammates, and Shohei Ohtani’s dominance as a DH (and starting pitcher) means he ended up left out of many end-of-season awards.

Ozuna, who finished the season batting .274/.346/.558 with 40 homers and 100 RBIs, saw all of those factors conspire to leave him in the cold during award season.

“The Big Bear” started more like a polar bear in the first month of the season, batting only .085 through April, with two homers and only five total hits in his first 18 games.

And Ozuna’s rebound to his more than adequate stats was overshadowed by both Ronald Acuña Jr’s historic 40/70 season and Matt Olson’s league-leading 54 homers.

And of course, Shohei Ohtani did Shohei Ohtani things, winning his 2nd MVP award in three seasons and taking the first team DH spot in the All-MVP team.

How long until pitchers and catchers report?

54 days. Atlanta’s expected to ask pitchers and catchers to report on Monday, February 12th, in advance of their first spring training game on February 24th against the Tampa Bay Rays. An official announcement of the reporting date will come in January.