At the start of the season, Marcell Ozuna looked like he had acquired a newfound patience that would rival Barry Bonds’s walk rate.

While the rest of the Atlanta Braves offense sputtered, he was a constant presence on base, even with a decline in power.

However, for whatever inexplicable reason, the club decided to reveal to the rest of baseball that Ozuna was actually dealing with a persistant hip injury that would hamper him through the rest of the season.

Since then, major league pitchers have had no reason to pitch around him, and his numbers relect it.

Now, with the Braves playoff odds drop closer and closer to zero by the day, Atlanta will likely sell at the trade deadline.

Unfortunately for them, one of they’ve exposed one of their biggest trade pieces.

Why the Atlanta Braves will likely get nothing back for Marcell Ozuna if they trade him

Even if Ozuna was hitting to his pre-June levels, the Braves likely wouldn’t have netted a massive return for half a season of the designated hitter.

Because of their defensive limitations, DHs don’t usually carry a lot of value outside their hitting.

For instance, last season, the Braves were able to acquire Luke Jackson and Jorge Soler in exchange for Sabin Ceballos and Tyler Matzek.

Ceballos is currently the Giants 23rd ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline. Soler was having a respectable offensive season at the time, but because of his defense, the Giants weren’t really able to acquire anything more than a lottery ticket at catcher.

Occasionally, teams can pull off a huge deal for a DH. In 2021, Nelson Cruz was traded by the Twins to the Rays, and Tampa Bay was able to net Joe Ryan, who has been one of their best starting pitchers over the last four seasons.

Prior to having his nagging hip injury revealed to the world, Marcell Ozuna was one of the best hitters in baseball. Through June 1, Ozuna was slashing .284/.427/.474 and had the 12th-best wRC+ in baseball thanks in part to a 19.9% walk-rate.

However, immediately after this reveal, Ozuna’s offensive production tanked.

Since June 2, when Alex Anthopoulos noted that the hip injury Ozuna was dealing with would hamper him for the rest of the season, the Braves DH has slashed .167/.261/.258 with a 46 wRC+, the seventh-worst in MLB.

Pitchers began to throw in the zone slightly more, and Ozuna decided to counter by swinging more often. As a result, the slugger’s walk rate decreased by 10 points while the 34-year-old failed to slug the ball.

Of course, if the Braves did eventually trade Ozuna, the physicals would have shown he was dealing with a hip injury.

However, by exposing this injury, the Braves have shown contending teams that this injury is in fact something that impedes his ability to hit.

Instead of getting a lottery ticket back, Atlanta would be lucky to get anything more than a minor league filler if they decide to part ways with their long-time DH.