The Braves will welcome Ozzie Albies back Friday. Manager Brian Snitker confirmed after Thursday’s 15-3 drubbing of the Reds that Atlanta will activate Albies from the 10-day injured list (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). They’ve been without their star second baseman for almost two months because of a left wrist fracture. The Braves will need to create an active roster spot for his activation
Albies still feels discomfort when he hits from the left side. He’ll limit himself to the right-handed batter’s box as a result. That’s his far stronger side in general. Albies is a career .339/.364/.568 hitter against left-handed pitching. He has a roughly average .247/.309/.437 slash versus righties. His task as a right-handed batter will be more difficult without always having the platoon advantage (to say nothing of the challenge of jumping back to action after an eight-week absence). Still, if Albies had to choose a side of the plate, he’d certainly pick this one.
The Braves have had a middle-of-the-pack offense for the past couple months. They’re 13th in scoring since the Albies injury, with similarly middling showings in on-base percentage (16th) and slugging (12th). Atlanta second basemen are hitting .220/.319/.296 across 216 plate appearances in that stretch. That’s weighed down by dreadful small-sample performances from Luke Williams and prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. The Braves have given most of the second base reps to Whit Merrifield, who has reached base at a strong .344 clip but hasn’t provided any kind of power since signing with Atlanta.
Merrifield has plenty of experience bouncing around the diamond. If Snitker wanted to keep him in the lineup, he’d probably kick him to third base and bench Gio Urshela. The veteran corner infielder is hitting .234/.258/.340 over 26 games as a Brave. Urshela signed a big league deal in the wake of Austin Riley’s injury, not long after Urshela was released by the Tigers.