Braves Activate Ozzie Albies And Two More Pitchers Back To The Squad Ahead Of Their Classical Game
The Braves announced Friday morning that they’ve reinstated Ozzie Albies from the 10-day injured list. The star second baseman is expected to be back in the lineup for today’s game. It’s a rather remarkable recovery for a player who spent just the 10-day minimum on the injured list after suffering a fractured big toe when he was hit by a pitch on April 15. Albies is returning to the club without a rehab assignment, though he took batting practice throughout the week.
Whether there’ll be any lingering effects remains to be seen, but Albies has gotten out to an excellent start in 2024. Through 15 games and 70 trips to the plate, he’s slashing .317/.386/.492 with a pair of homers, a pair of steals and just a 12.9% strikeout rate.
If the foot injury doesn’t provide any more problems for him, he’s laid the foundation for an excellent follow-up effort to a career year at the plate in 2023, which saw Albies pop a personal-best 33 home runs and bat .280/.336/.513 in 660 plate appearances.
Atlanta won’t need to make any corresponding moves to get Albies back onto the roster. The Braves announced yesterday that infielder David Fletcher passed through waivers unclaimed and had been assigned outright to Triple-A Gwinnett. He’d been on the big league roster, so that paved the way for Albies’ reinstatement.
In 787 games since debuting with the Braves as a 20-year-old back in 2017, Albies is a .273/.326/.479 hitter with 133 home runs and 78 stolen bases. The three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner is in the sixth season of a seven-year, $35MM contract extension he signed back in April of 2019. He’s earning $7MM this year and next, and the Braves hold a pair of $7MM club options on him for the 2026-27 campaigns.
Max Fried threw just three hits in Atlanta’s first nine-inning complete game since 2022. Adam Duvall added a two-run homer as the Braves shut out the Miami Marlins for the second consecutive night, winning 5-0 on Tuesday.
After a shaky start to the season, Fried (2-0) seems to have found his form again. He breezed through the Marlins lineup in just 1 hour, 54 minutes, keeping them scoreless for the second consecutive night.
“I was just focusing on getting back to my usual self,” Fried commented. “Getting ground balls and staying aggressive.”
Fried struggled in his first start, allowing three runs against Philadelphia before being pulled. His next outing against Arizona was equally tough, giving up 10 hits and seven earned runs in just over four innings.
Since then, however, Fried has dominated the Marlins, allowing only one earned run in 15 1/3 innings, significantly reducing his ERA from a staggering 40.50 after his first game.
