UPDATE: Marcell Ozuna Hoping for Big Contract Year with Braves

The Braves best hitter in 2024 was not Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley or Matt Olson. Rather, it was Marcell “The Big Bear” Ozuna, in a twist few could have imagined several years ago. In a Braves season marked by injuries and perplexing underperformances, neither applied to Ozuna, not even close. Instead, he played in all 162 games and roared to a fourth-place MVP finish. Now, Ozuna faces an important contract year.

Picking up his $16 million club option for the upcoming season was a no-brainer for Atlanta. The slugger will once again bat in the middle of the lineup and play a key role in a hopeful World Series push. However, many have speculated on what Ozuna’s future holds with the Braves, as he will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. It would seem like another no-brainer to extend him should he have one more great year, right? Well, it’s complicated. But in order to understand how we got here, we must first go back to the beginning.

Marcell Ozuna Faces Contract Year for Braves

An Early Peak

January, 2020. Third baseman Josh Donaldson signs a four-year deal with the Twins, leaving a massive hole in the middle of the Braves lineup. A week later, Atlanta announces the signing of fellow right-handed hitter Marcell Ozuna, then 29, to fill the void. It’s a one-year contract worth $18 million, a prove-it deal for Ozuna to build his value coming off two solid but unspectacular years with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Braves fans would have to wait a few extra months to see The Big Bear, as COVID-19 derailed the start of the season, but in the 60-game campaign that followed, Ozuna was nothing short of spectacular. His ridiculous slash line of .338/.431/.636 was supplemented by a National League-leading 18 home runs, 56 RBI, and 145 total bases. The Braves had seemingly unlocked a superstar to go with their exciting young core.

Believing in this vision, GM Alex Anthopoulos handed the Dominican slugger the long-term deal he sought all along. The four-year, $64 million pact was seen as a win-win, securing Ozuna the first multi-year contract of his career with the potential to become a bargain for Atlanta should he even come close to sustaining his 2020 production. Everything was set for a fruitful partnership, and a championship was on everyone’s mind. Then, everything went wrong.

The Valley

It’s hard to imagine a worse individual season than 2021 for Marcell Ozuna. Months removed from securing the big contract, Ozuna started very slow at the plate and in left field that year. In late Ma,y he fractured two fingers on a headfirst slide and was given a six-week timetable for his return. However, this return would never happen.

Just one day after hitting the injured list, Ozuna was arrested on domestic violence charges for assaulting his wife. The Braves kept him on the IL until September, before he was placed on administrative leave by MLB. Then, Ozuna had to watch from afar as the Braves made a miracle run to win the World Series over the Houston Astros in six games.

Ozuna eventually received a 20-game retroactive suspension from the league, allowing him to suit up for Opening Day the following season. However, 2022 was equally unkind. Ozuna stumbled to a .226/.274/.413 and an 88 OPS+ in 124 games, a far cry from star-level stats. To make matters worse, he ran into more legal trouble when he was arrested and charged with DUI in August, becoming a meme in the process (if ya know, ya know). Between the sunken stats and off-field distractions, Ozuna’s future with the Braves was suddenly uncertain.

His name is Marcell Ozuna and he cashes checks from the Atlanta Braves

— FAX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFAX) March 14, 2025

The Mariana Trench

The latter arrest eventually resolved itself, and given the large financial commitment, Ozuna found himself in the Braves lineup once again to begin 2023. Fans hoped for a resurgence, and instead, Ozuna was…laughably dreadful. His stats at the plate through the month of April are almost unbelievable: 5 for 67, .188 wOBA, and a wRC+ of 10(!). This is not to mention his defense in left field, which was nearly unplayable. Braves fans loudly booed his every move, thoroughly fed up with this shell of a superstar. Then, out of nowhere, everything changed again.

Back to the Peak

As the calendar turned to May 2023, a switch was flipped in Marcell Ozuna. From that point on, he mashed 38 home runs with a .297/.366/.603 line and a 156 wRC+. His final totals of 40 dingers and 100 RBI were near the top of the NL leaderboard. He was a leading contributor for an offense that finished with the highest team slugging percentage in baseball history. Crazily enough, The Big Bear was back and better than ever.

And despite his penchant for season-to-season volatility, Ozuna turned in an even better one the following year. As mentioned at the top, he carried Atlanta’s offense through a comparatively tough 2024 with a .302/.378/.546 line, 39 home runs, 104 RBI, and a 154 OPS+. The redemption arc was complete. Ozuna had gone from the worst hitter in baseball to the best one on a playoff team. Entering 2025, Ozuna will look to make it three consecutive excellent seasons in his last year of club control.

A Decision Awaits

Should Ozuna repeat the last two years, Anthopoulos will have an intriguing decision to make next offseason. At this point, Ozuna’s bat is a staple of the Braves offense and ever-crucial to the team’s success. However, in recent years Anthopoulos has established a trend of letting star players walk in free agency as they approach their early-to-mid 30s (Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, Max Fried).

Ozuna will turn 35 in November of this year. Although his batted ball metrics currently show no sign of decline, this is the age when we typically see this, even from most star players. Additionally, he offers no defensive value at this point in his career (he has played all of two games in left field since 2022). If the Braves decide they want more flexibility to rotate guys in the DH spot moving forward, it could play into a decision to let Ozuna go.

It will likely take Ozuna mashing at an All-Star level once again in his contract year for the Braves to offer him a multi-year extension. Even in this scenario, we can probably expect Anthopoulos to offer him a value slightly below his true worth, and for Ozuna to rightfully seek out top dollar with this likely being his last shot at a big contract given his age.

On his upcoming free agency, Ozuna told Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “I don’t think on that. I just come in and give you my best, as usual, and then play the game, just have fun.” Braves fans should adopt the same mindset. Rather than worry about the future, sit back, relax, and enjoy the Marcell Ozuna show in 2025. It’s all the more mindblowing when you remember where we were just a few short years ago.