Still a Brave after trade deadline, Ozuna appears close to old form

The Braves opted to keep Ozuna, a 34-year-old designated hitter, despite his expected departure in free agency and $16 million salary this season. And Ozuna thanked the club for its loyalty Thursday night by driving home Matt Olson on a sacrifice fly to put the Braves ahead, 12-11, in extra innings.

After a dreadful stretch that saw Ozuna batting .183 across June and July entering the Braves’ series against the Royals on Monday, the three-time All-Star appears to be heading in the right direction. He has hit .308 in his past four games and finished Thursday’s contest 1-for-2 with three walks and three runs scored.

Ozuna and catcher Sean Murphy became the first pair of Braves teammates each to record three walks in a game since Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward did so in May 2014.

“If we get that big sucker going, too, that could be a huge help for us the rest of the way,” manager Brian Snitker said.

Ozuna credited his solid week of hitting to staying within his approach at the plate and working hard away from the field. He reminded himself of his potential — a player who hit .302 last season with a team-leading 39 home runs — and let all other aspects take care of themselves.

He also cleaned up his plate discipline, striking out only once with six walks in his past 20 plate appearances (four games).

“You just have to worry a little less,” Ozuna said. “And then I’ll do my own, I’ll be Marcell Ozuna. And then I’ll work harder and give my best to my team.”

A strong finish would be beneficial for both Ozuna and the Braves. Ozuna would increase his stock entering free agency — where the Braves are unlikely to re-sign him because of the production of Murphy and fellow catcher Drake Baldwin — and the club would give fans a reason to show up to games, despite its 46-52 record.

And displaying a good product, which generates revenue from merchandise, advertisements and ticket sales, is clearly important to the Braves, who opted for silence on the final day of the trade deadline.

“Gutting the roster and just dumping players and giving them away (just doesn’t make sense),” Anthopoulos said. “We have fans that bought tickets, that are showing up. I think fans understand if you’re getting players you believe are making the team better and so on, but if you’re just going to take players off the roster and fill them with, arguably, players that aren’t as productive and impact the product, and you’re asking other guys to go play every day and grind and push — I think the message that would send organizationally is just wrong.”

Now, we’ll see if Ozuna can draw closer to replicating his typical production. And if he does, both parties could profit, literally.

“We have a lot of time together,” Ozuna said. “So keeping (everyone) together even through the ups and downs that we have this year is good.”