Marcell Ozuna Lone Braves Hitter Receiving Major Award Consideration

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna is a finalist for a major MLB award.

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna / Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Major League Baseball announced their finalists for the 2024 Silver Slugger Awards. It's an award Atlanta Braves fans are used to seeing their players nominated for most years.

But for the 2024 season, designated hitter Marcell Ozuna was the only Braves player named a finalist for the award.

Ozuna hit .302 with a .925 OPS, 39 home runs and 104 RBI on his way to being a NL Silver Slugger finalist at DH. He also registered a .378 on-base percentage thanks in part to a career-high 74 walks, a .546 slugging percentage due to a career-best 70 extra-base hits and a career-high 96 runs.

He's won a Silver Slugger award two previous times in 2017 with the Miami Marlins and 2020 with the Braves. In both cases, Ozuna won the award while playing outfield.

The designated hitter position didn't even exist in the National League at that time.

With the arrival of the DH in the National League, Ozuna has seen more opportunities to play regularly for Atlanta. He appeared in all 162 games for the Braves during the 2024 season.

Ozuna is one of only two finalists for the Silver Slugger Award for the NL DH spot. However, he likely has little chance of winning the award this year. The other DH finalist in the National League is Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, who is considered the front runner for the NL MVP award.

Ohtani became the first player ever to hit at least 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season during 2024.

If that isn't enough to put a damper on Ozuna's chances at the Silver Slugger, the MLB's graphic for the finalist list will. It's never good to be competing with the player the league decides to feature on the list of finalists.

Here are the finalists for the 2024 National League Silver Slugger Awards.

Winners will be announced Nov. 12. pic.twitter.com/W9EkEoe1k4

— MLB (@MLB) November 4, 2024

Ozuna, though, should still be proud of his season. He finished just one home run shy of his career best and knocked in more runs during 2024 than he has in the past six seasons.

He also had his highest batting average since 2017 and the best OPS he's ever recorded excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

Because of injuries and disappointing seasons from other Braves hitters, it's not surprising that Ozuna was the only Atlanta finalist for the Silver Slugger award. But it's still jarring after years of the Braves having one of the best lineups in baseball.

Last year, three Braves hitters -- Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Ronald Acuña Jr. -- won a NL Silver Slugger award.