Back in what passed for spring training, before it was cut weeks short by the coronavirus, the Braves were just a little bit anxious about their new plug-in player for the middle of the lineup.
Had General Manager Alex Anthopoulos swung and missed on this one? Had the knack for importing one-year wonders – see Josh Donaldson the season before – betrayed him?
How could it be that the same Marcell Ozuna who bedeviled the Braves in the preceding postseason was just as troublesome to them now while wearing their uniform?
Ozuna had found the team’s new facility in the wilds of North Port, Fla.