{"id":104957,"date":"2025-07-29T16:49:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=104957"},"modified":"2025-07-29T16:49:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T20:49:44","slug":"cincinnati-reds-marcell-ozuna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/29\/cincinnati-reds-marcell-ozuna\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcell Ozuna Would Be a Fit for the Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Reds are 56-51, in the midst of a three game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> where they\u2019ll face a gauntlet of starting pitchers. This is their final series before the trade deadline. With a multitude of players publicly urging the front office to make additions at the deadline, perhaps none will be bigger than the possible addition of Marcell Ozuna.<\/p>\n

Marcell Ozuna Would Be a Fit for the Reds<\/h2>\n

Ozuna\u2019s Current Situation<\/h3>\n

The usually potent Atlanta Braves<\/a> have been faltering all season, as they are currently 45-60, standing at fourth place in the NL East. As for Ozuna, he is on the final year of his four-year, $65 million contract.<\/p>\n

The Braves have expressed interest in shipping off some of their rental pieces at the deadline, and Ozuna is the most intriguing of all. While his off the field issues may be a cause for concern for some, he has stayed away from trouble in the past few years.<\/p>\n

Ozuna\u2019s 2025 Performance<\/h3>\n

A quick glance at Ozuna\u2019s stats will result in the obvious drop in power production this year. Compared to past seasons of a slugging percentage hovering around the mid .500s, his .393 SLG in 2025 is far below that.<\/p>\n

This has resulted in a large drop in his OPS.<\/p>\n

2023: .905 OPS \u2014 140 OPS+<\/p>\n

2024: .925 OPS \u2014 153 OPS+<\/p>\n

2025 (current): .754 OPS \u2014 112 OPS+<\/p>\n

Due to his performance this year and his pending free agency status, the price for Ozuna is likely lower than it has ever been. For a team like the Reds<\/a> who like to operate discretely and at a low cost, this is the perfect situation to swoop in and grab a hitter of Ozuna\u2019s caliber.<\/p>\n

While some may scoff at a .753 OPS being an impactful bat in Cincinnati\u2019s lineup, Ozuna will immediately slot in as the third best hitter on the team. Aside from Elly De La Cruz who has a .847 OPS on the year, the next best hitter is TJ Freidl who has a .769 OPS.<\/p>\n

The Reds are a team lacking in power, and to slot in a guy with Ozuna\u2019s power potential behind the speedy Elly De La Cruz means the run production should spike.<\/p>\n

Ozuna\u2019s Hidden Productivity<\/h3>\n

There are many reasons why he will break out of this rut soon.<\/p>\n

Firstly, his .260 xBA and .474 xSLG are far and away higher than his current production. His eye at the plate has maintained elite, which is often a sign that a hitter is simply struggling rather than truly regressing.<\/p>\n

22.5 Chase% \u2014 82nd percentile<\/p>\n

24.7 Whiff% \u2014 48th percentile<\/p>\n

22.7 K% \u2014 44th percentile<\/p>\n

16.5 BB% \u2014 99th percentile<\/p>\n

Finally, his batted ball profile still screams \u201celite\u201d, as he has continued to punish the baseball.<\/p>\n

90.9 MPH Avg Exit Velo \u2014 67th percentile<\/p>\n

10.7 Barrel% \u2014 64th percentile<\/p>\n

48.6 Hard-Hit% \u2014 79th percentile<\/p>\n

73.5 MPH Bat Speed \u2014 72nd percentile.<\/p>\n

Ozuna\u2019s Fit With Cincinnati<\/h3>\n

Ozuna is a true DH. He will continue to stick at DH as he is in his age 34 season now. The Reds are a team who does not have a true DH. It’s being used as more of a rotation of players who are deserving of defensive rest.<\/p>\n

Some days it is a toss-up between catchers Tyler Stephenson and Jose Trevino. Other days it is between infielders Spencer Steer and Gavin Lux. Truth be told, these players simply do not produce enough offense in order to be deserving of a DH spot.<\/p>\n

With Ozuna\u2019s power potential, he would solve the problem of \u201cno DH\u201d instantly. He is one of the healthiest players in the league year in and year out.<\/p>\n

Should the Reds swing a trade for Ozuna, he would be a perfect fit for the Reds lineup. If the trade doesn\u2019t pan out for whatever reason, they can either resign him on a cheap deal or simply let him walk in free agency with no strings attached.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Reds are 56-51, in the midst of a three game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers where they\u2019ll face a gauntlet of starting pitchers. This is their final series before the trade deadline. With a multitude of players publicly urging the front office to make additions at the deadline, perhaps none will be bigger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5447,"featured_media":105035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,1071],"tags":[221],"class_list":["post-104957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reds","category-mlb","tag-marcell-ozuna"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104957"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105037,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104957\/revisions\/105037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}