Triple Crown Watch: Braves' Ozuna in Reach of History

The Atlanta Braves' season is going downhill, fast, but Marcell Ozuna 's campaign is steadily headed for legendary status.

Winning a Triple Crown is something no Braves player has ever done, but the Braves designated hitter is in reach of making it happen. He would be the first NL player to take the honor since 1937 and the first player to win it at all since the AL's Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

The Braves All-Star and Home Run Derby participant leads the NL with 89 RBIs, his 34 homers trails only Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers by one, and his .298 batting average sits .004 behind NL co-leaders Ohtani and Luis Arraez of the San Diego Padres.

Last night, "The Big Bear's" 34th homer momentarily tied him for the league lead in long balls before Ohtani also hit another to snatch the lead back.

Ohtani is Ozuna's biggest competition here, as he is just six RBIs behind Ozuna from leading all three Triple Crown categories. But he looks primed to become a two-way player again with a return to the mound imminent, according to ESPN's Alden González. With more of a focus on pitching, one can only imagine Ohtani will not maintain his current pace at the plate.

That opens the door for Ozuna if he finishes strong. The 33-year old is currently on pace to hit a career-high 48 homers, knock in 125 runs and maintain a .298 batting average while playing all 162 games.

Those homer and RBI totals would both notch personal bests in a single season for the 12-year MLB veteran. Ozuna is now six homers away from matching his total of 40 homers from last year, which was previously his career high. 125 RBIs would edge his previous best 124, which he tallied in a Silver Slugger/All-Star campaign in 2017 with the Florida Marlins. His career-best average over a full season (excluding the 60-game 2020 season) is .312, also in 2017.

There's no reason to think the Big Bear will falter towards the end of this season. He's batting .276 with a .947 OPS and eight homers in 20 games since the All-Star break. While playing all 115 games so far this season, he's yet to finish a month with an average under .267 and a slugging percentage below .500 in 2024.

If he continues his filthy pace and wins the first Triple Crown in Braves history in the final guaranteed year of his contract, there shouldn't be any debate about whether the Braves will extend Ozuna.