Ozzie

Albies

Albies’ home run was his 15th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Wandy Peralta in the sixth inning. Albies was just 2-for-13 with a run scored and two RBI in the last three games entering play Monday. He’s hitting .266 with a .755 OPS and 54 RBI.

The Braves only mustered three hits and two runs off Cardinals’ starter Michael McGreevy, and Albies was responsible for both runs and two of the three hits. He’s had a tremendous bounce back season thus far with 13 home runs and a .769 OPS as we approach the All-Star Break.

The Braves had been held without a hit through four innings until Albies took Kyle Harrison deep for a solo homer to lead off the fifth. He added a base hit and scored a run in the seventh, then came through in a big spot in the ninth. With a runner on and trailing by one run, he slugged a two-run homer off Aaron Ashby to walk it off for Atlanta. The 29-year-old second baseman is hitting .284/.335/.453 with 12 homers, 50 runs scored, and 40 RBI across 322 plate appearances.

Albies broke this game wide open with his three-run home run in the seventh inning after it sat still at 4-2 from the third inning on. That was his 10th home run of the season – only six shy of his mark from last year – to go along with a .283 batting average and .791 OPS in what’s been a resurgent season for the second baseman.

Albies smacked a double off of Payton Tolle in the fourth inning and came around to score on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Dominic Smith. He then capped off the scoring in the ballgame with a 416-foot (104.4 mph EV) two-run blast off of Ryan Watson in the ninth inning. With the three-hit attack, Albies is now slashing a solid .276/.333/.439 to go along with nine homers and 29 RBI on the season.

Albies has been the team’s everyday cleanup hitter this week following the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. The second baseman has one of the highest wRC+ marks of his career, though he finishes the afternoon just 14 percent better than league average. It’s still a bounceback from the past two years. The only flaw in his roto profile this year is that he hasn’t yet stolen a base and has been caught three times.

Walt Weiss sure does love to tinker. He also has Michael Harris II batting second for the first time tonight. Ozzie Albies is in the cleanup spot. Riley is back down to .211/.279/.368 for the season after the last two games. He’s hit .250 with four homers and 11 RBI in 17 games this month, but that has come with a poor 22/2 K/BB.

Albies’ home run was his sixth of the year. He hit a two-run shot off Tigers reliever Tyler Holton to put the Braves up 5-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Suddenly, Albies is sporting a 141 wRC+, which would be the highest of his career. The 29-year-old second baseman didn’t have a league average wRC+ in three of the last four years prior to this season. Fantasy managers have to be pleased with this start from Albies, who should be rostered in all formats at this point.

Albies roped a double into the right field corner after a wild pitch staked the Braves to a 3-2 lead to make it 5-2, then tacked on a solo shot in the ninth inning to conclude the game’s scoring. Now hitting .297/.342/.475 in what can only be called a bounceback season to this point, Albies has five homers in his first 101 plate appearances. If you drafted him as a low-end starter in a shallow league, you’re feeling pretty good about how things have gone so far.

Albies’ only hit of the game gave the Braves an insurance run in the eighth inning as he took Shaun Anderson deep for a solo homer to right field. It was the third home run of the young season for the 29-year-old second baseman. He’s slashing .277/.333/.468 with seven runs scored and four RBI across 51 plate appearances.