Marcell Ozuna -- General News
General News sources for Marcell Ozuna of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Marcell Ozuna signed a four-year, $65 million contract with the Atlanta Braves on February 6, 2021, keeping him with the team after a career-best 2020 season. The deal includes a club option for 2025 that could increase the total value to $80 million, with an average annual value of $16.25 million.
Ozuna's 2020 performance was exceptional by league standards. He posted a .338/.431/.636 slash line with a 179 wRC+ (third in NL), led the league in home runs (18), RBIs (56), total bases (145), and plate appearances (267), and accumulated 2.5 WAR, which ranked seventh. Over his eight-year MLB career, he has performed 17% better than average according to wRC+ metrics.
Despite these elite numbers, Ozuna's contract is significantly less lucrative than other major free agents signed in the 2021 offseason. His $16.25M AAV is less than half of George Springer's $25M (Blue Jays), below J.T. Realmuto's $23.1M (Phillies), and only $1.3M more than DJ LeMahieu's $15M (Yankees)—all while Ozuna's 2020 WAR (2.5) matched or exceeded most of his peers. The contract fell $5 million short of the pre-season estimates for a four-year deal provided by FanGraphs analysts.