Braves Batting Ozzie Albies 8th Was a Stroke of Genius

The Atlanta Braves' front office is once again proving that they know exactly what they are doing.

In the beginning of the year, Ozzie Albies was struggling to find his groove at the top of the order. He batted .288 and .239 with 20+ strikeouts in the months of April and May, respectively. As a result, manager Brian Snitker thought it might be a good idea to stick him deeper in the batting order, moving him down to eighth in the lineup to put some pressure on the MLB All-Star, encouraging him to be more disciplined at the plate. Boy was he right.

Compared to his slow start in the Spring, Albies is hitting .337 in the month of June with only 9 strikeouts. He has been particularly hot in his past 15 games, sporting a .355 BA, .394 OBP, and .677 SLG.

He added to those numbers tonight, launching a home run out of the eight-hole against the Cubs.

As a result of this turnaround, Albies is one of three finalists for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game at 2B, alongside Mike Moustakas of the Milwaukee Brewers and Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Snitker is proving to the entire league that he was worthy of the 2018 Manager of the Year award, and if the Braves continue to dominate the NL East, he could wind up with the award once again in 2019.