NORTH PORT, Fla. — Ozzie Albies didn’t set out to become one of the all-time power hitters among players his size.
“I was more like a line-drive hitter,” the Braves second baseman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And then coming through the farm system, they started telling me, ‘You’ve got to elevate a little bit more, hit more extra-base hits.’ That’s how it happened.”
The numbers bear it out. In his first two minor-league systems in the Braves system (2014-15) after signing out of his native Curaçao, he hit one home run in 592 at-bats. In a 2014 scouting report, Baseball America noted his “minimal power.” Home runs arrived in bulk only when he reached the majors in 2017.
And it has since developed in a way the game has rarely seen. Few Braves fans may be aware of the following — Albies wasn’t. But of players who stood (or stand) 5-foot-8 or shorter, the 5-8 Albies has the 10th most home runs all-time with 141, according to Stathead, including Negro leagues players. And more notably, at the age of 28, he’s got a good chance to climb at least to second place behind Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, the 5-7 catcher who hit 358 in his unparalleled career.
The accomplishment might not mean much to many, particularly those who don’t have to strain to reach the items on the top shelf at Publix. But it did to Albies when I showed him the list Monday in the Braves clubhouse.