The Atlanta Braves sent outfielder Marcell Ozuna (hip) back to Atlanta on Monday for an exploratory MRI exam on his injured hip, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Justin Toscano. The MRI showed inflammation but nothing serious, and Ozuna is considered day-to-day. While it seems that the 34-year-old veteran slugger has avoided a serious injury, he's expected to miss the entire three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Atlanta has the day off on Thursday before returning home on Friday to start a weekend series against the Minnesota Twins. Fantasy managers will want to check back then to see if Ozuna is feeling good enough to return to the starting lineup. With Ozuna out on Monday, Bryan De La Cruz served as the designated hitter and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the 8-4 victory.

Atlanta Braves outfielder/designated hitter Marcell Ozuna (leg) is out of the team's starting lineup on Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Center due to a minor leg injury. However, manager Brian Snitker isn't too concerned. Bryan De La Cruz will serve as the designated hitter and will bat fifth against Blue Jays left-hander Easton Lucas for the series opener. It's good news that Ozuna's injury doesn't sound very serious, but fantasy managers will need to pull him from their lineups on Monday and check back to see if he's available to play in Game 2 of the series in Canada on Tuesday. The 28-year-old De La Cruz should be avoided in DFS lineups for Monday's slate because of his slow start in 2025. The Dominican outfielder has gone just 8-for-39 (.205) with no home runs, a stolen base and 16 strikeouts in his 42 plate appearances over 13 games.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna was Thursday night's hero for the Braves, going 3-for-5 and hitting a two-run, walk-off home run in the 11th inning of the team's 4-1 win. Ozuna jumped on an 0-1 slider from Joe Ross and lined it 413 feet into the left-center field seats. The game didn't wrap up until almost 1:00 a.m. ET after a rain delay, but at least the fans who stayed went home happy after the Braves took two of three games from the Phillies and went 3-2 on their homestand after their disastrous road trip to start the season. Ozuna is hitting .316 (12-for-38) with two homers, seven RBI, 15 walks, and a .459 wOBA. He and the Braves will look to carry their momentum into their weekend series against the Rays in Tampa.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna went 1-for-4 with a single and a run scored in his team's 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. The veteran also walked and struck out once. It's taking Ozuna a bit to get going in 2025, as he's batting just .241 with two extra-base hits (one double, one homer) across his first 29 at-bats -- scoring seven runs and driving in five. Still, it's worth noting that he's walking 32.6% of the time, notching at least one base on balls in all but two of his appearances. The exit velocity numbers look good for the 34-year-old, as his 93.2 MPH exceeds his 2024 average of 92.1. It isn't time to panic just yet. Ozuna should begin to heat up along with the weather.

The Atlanta Braves exercised designated hitter Marcell Ozuna's $16 million club option for the 2025 season on Monday. It was a no-brainer decision for the Braves after Ozuna was once again one of the best all-around hitters in the game in 2024. The 33-year-old veteran Dominican slugger helped carry Atlanta's offense this year with Ronald Acuna Jr. (knee) suffering a season-ending torn ACL. Ozuna made the All-Star team for the third time in his career and finished his fifth year with the Braves with an impressive .302/.378/.546 slash line, .925 OPS, 39 home runs, 104 RBI, one steal and career-high 96 runs scored in a league-high 162 games played. He's recorded a whopping 79 home runs and 204 RBI the last two seasons, but his loss of outfield eligibility makes him a bit more volatile for fantasy managers heading into 2025.

Atlanta Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said that the team is planning to exercise their club option for the 2025 season on outfielder/designated hitter Marcell Ozuna for $16 million. It's a no-brainer decision after Ozuna made the All-Star team for the third time in his career in 2024 by hitting .302/.378/.546 with a .925 OPS, 39 home runs, 104 RBI and 96 runs scored in 688 plate appearances over a full 162-game season. It was the first time that Ozuna played in all 162 games in his career, and he's now clubbed 79 home runs and driven in 204 runs in 306 games for the Braves the last two regular seasons while slashing .289/.364/.552 with a .916 OPS. The 33-year-old was helped health-wise by the fact that he played all 162 of his games as the team's DH. Ozuna tried to pick up the slack as best he could offensively with Ronald Acuna Jr. (knee) and Austin Riley (hand) suffering injuries this year.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna went 3-for-4 in Wednesday's 7-1 win over the Reds, collecting his 38th home run of the season, smacking two doubles, driving in two, and scoring twice as well. The home run ended a remarkable 26-game homerless drought for the 33-year-old. Even still, the veteran slugger has put together a strong season for the Braves, posting a .306-38-100-92-0 line. The final month of the season has been the most productive for the 3x All-Star throughout his career, slashing .294/.364/.522 during that time, so he may be heating back up again at just the right time for fantasy managers navigating the fantasy playoffs.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna continued to provide elite power in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the Phillies. Ozuna went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, a walk, and two strikeouts. The 33-year-old clobbered a fifth-inning Zack Wheeler fastball 432 feet to straight-away center to put the Braves up by one. Ozuna has once again been a top fantasy contributor, slashing .309/.382/.597 with 37 HR, 80 runs scored, and 94 RBI in 531 plate appearances. Only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have more HR than Ozuna, proving that he is still an elite source of power for fantasy managers.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna went a perfect 3-for-3 with a home run and a walk in Saturday's 11-3 win over the Angels. The 33-year-old also drove in three runs and scored three times in a productive day at the plate. It was his second consecutive three-hit game and the home run was his 35th of the season, just two behind Shohei Ohtani for the N.L. lead. Now with 90 RBI, the veteran is the N.L. league leader in that category. The 3x All-Star is slashing .307/.379/.590 on the year with a .409 wOBA and 164 wRC+.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna went 1-for-4 in Friday's 6-5 loss to the Rockies, belting his 34th home run of the season, and has now homered in back-to-back games. The blast temporarily tied him for the N.L. lead until Shohei Ohtani hit his 35th later on in the night. Still, Ozuna sits alone atop the N.L. as the RBI leader with 89. The 33-year-old is having a phenomenal encore to his robust 2023 campaign, now slashing .298/.372/.585 with a .404 wOBA and 161 wRC+.

In the second game of a doubleheader Saturday, Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna slammed two home runs in a 9-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. The veteran slugger took St. Louis starter Sonny Gray deep in the fourth and sixth innings, his 27th and 28th of the year. Ozuna is now hitting .305 with the 28 home runs, 79 RBI, and 60 runs scored. He is making a serious run at the National League Most Valuable Player award with this consistently high production.

Atlanta Braves DH Marcell Ozuna had a big night in his team's 6-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday. Ozuna went 2-for-4 with two solo homers to power his team to the win. Ozuna's first homer tied the game at 1-1 in the fifth inning. He then later came back and added an insurance run in the ninth with a monster shot that traveled 422 feet with an exit velocity of 108.1 MPH. Ozuna is putting together an excellent year, batting .301 with 26 homers, 57 runs, and 77 RBI over 346 at-bats. The veteran slugger will be making his first appearance in MLB's Home Run Derby on Monday.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run in Saturday's 5-1 win over the Phillies, recording two RBI and a run scored. It was the second consecutive game with a home run for the 33-year-old and was his 23rd of the season. The 2x All-Star has picked up right where he left off last season, continuing his offensive barrage with a. 298-23-72-51-0 line in 2024 to go with a .405 wOBA and 164 wRC+.

Atlanta Braves DH Marcell Ozuna had a big night in a 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Ozuna went 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs, and two RBI to help power Atlanta to the win. The veteran's two-run homer off Ryan Pepiot came in the fifth inning and traveled 423 feet with an exit velocity of 105.8 MPH. Ozuna is having an excellent season for the Braves, hitting .327 with 20 homers, 43 runs, and 62 RBI across 254 at-bats. The 33-year-old should be locked into fantasy lineups as he has been red-hot at the plate of late, hitting .414 with two homers and seven RBI over his past seven contests.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna kept crushing it in Friday night's win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays, crushing his league-leading 19th home run of the season with three RBI. Taking Rays right-hander Zack Littell deep during the opening frame, Ozuna hammered a three-run homer to right field to put the Braves ahead 3-1 early on Friday. The 33-year-old Dominican slugger has been stellar in 2024, slashing .321/.396/.610 with 60 RBI, 15 doubles, and 41 runs scored over 249 at-bats for the Braves as Atlanta's primary No. 3 batter. He's shaping up as one of the best picks out of the middle rounds of fantasy drafts this past spring. Well on his way to Arlington later this summer for the third All-Star nod of his career, Ozuna's .663 xSLG on Baseball Savant is somehow better than what he's actually slugging.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna went 2-for-5 with four RBI in Saturday's 11-9 loss to the Athletics. The home run was his 17th of the season, most in the National League, and the RBI gave him a total of 53, good for second-most in all of baseball. Ozuna began the year hot and has yet to cool off, even hitting safely in 23 of his last 25 games. For the season, the 2x All-Star is slashing .313/.388/.611 with a .426 wOBA and 178 wRC+. Hopefully the 33-year-old can keep it up for the rest of the campaign.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna launched two home runs during Monday's doubleheader with the San Diego Padres, clubbing two solo shots across the two outings. Ozuna clobbered a Dylan Cease slider in the third inning of Game 1, later tagging Padres right-hander Randy Vasquez for another solo jack in the fifth inning of Game 2. Well on his way to the third All-Star nod of his career, the 33-year-old veteran slugger is slashing a prolific .327/.405./642 with 14 long balls, nine doubles, 43 RBI, and 27 runs scored through 185 plate appearances (44 games) as Atlanta's everyday DH in the heart of their lineup. Next up for Ozuna is a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and he's batting .333 (9-for-27) with one round-tripper and five RBI in his last eight games against the Cubs on the road.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna halted a mini slump with two more home runs in Wednesday's 5-0 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox, adding a walk in the shutout victory. Entering the day just 4-for-28 with one homer over his last eight outings, Ozuna got right back to his dominant ways first with a three-run jack in the first inning and later with a solo shot in the third frame. Over 144 trips to the dish (34 games), the 33-year-old star slugger is slashing a phenomenal .315/.396/.646 with 12 round-trippers, six doubles, an MLB-leading 38 RBI, and 23 runs scored and should continue piling up counting stats as the everyday No. 5 hitter in Atlanta's loaded lineup. A three-game weekend series with the division-rival New York Mets commences on Friday, which fantasy managers should be looking forward to. In 13 games against the Mets since 2023, Ozuna is batting a torrid .396 with six long balls, seven doubles, and 18 RBI.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna had a nice game at the plate in Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the White Sox. The 33-year-old went 2-for-4 with two solo home runs and a strikeout. The power hitter has only managed a .227 batting average in his first 22 plate appearances but he also has three HR. It is still early and Ozuna has plenty of time to bring his average up, but it is encouraging to see him hitting for power out of the gate.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna hit his second home run of the spring on Monday in a 4-0 Grapefruit League win over the Twins. Ozuna had started off the spring hot but his bat had gone cold as of late, going 2-for-17 over his last six games. The 33-year-old is still hitting .306 in the spring, going 15-for-49 with two doubles, two home runs, four RBI (three of which came on Monday's HR), and four runs scored. He's got just two walks compared to 16 strikeouts which is a bit concerning, but as long as he keeps hitting home runs that can be tolerated. The Braves have their Grapefruit finale on Tuesday before opening the season Thursday against the Phillies in Philadelphia.